


Suga, Spice, & Everything Nice (Camp!AU SugaxReader)

by kateisasimp



Category: Haikyuu!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25352365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kateisasimp/pseuds/kateisasimp
Summary: Needing money and experience for the summer, you join a sleepaway camp teaching volleyball to kids. But a certain counselor starts to catch your eye, one Sugawara Koushi, with a warm smile and a big heart that brings some interesting flavor to the days of camp. As you start to grow closer, who knows what the summer will bring?
Relationships: Sugawara Koushi/Reader
Comments: 43
Kudos: 137





	1. Chapter 1

“I can’t believe this is how I’m going to spend my entire summer vacation.”

  
You grumble to yourself, phone pressed to your ear by your shoulder as you roll up clothes to put in a suitcase. Over the phone, your best friend’s voice pokes through, chipper and a stark contrast to your grumpy complaining. 

  
“Oh come on.” They say as you groan again. “It’s just a month. You’ll live. And hey, at least you’ll make some good money that we can spend once you get back!” You finish stacking your shirts as you move on to pants, layering them to fit as much as you possibly can in the small suitcase. You had signed up, remorsefully, to be a counselor at a sleepaway volleyball summer camp for elementary and middle school students. It’s not the fact that you were working 24/7 that bothered you, it’s the fact that you were assigned to the middle schoolers, and they just got on your nerves. Elementary school-age was so much easier to deal with, they were cute and clumsy and eager to learn and didn’t have the attitude of a pre-teen. But that’s where you were assigned, so you just had to suck it up and hope the weeks went by fast.

  
At least it was volleyball, the only sport you were competent at and legitimately enjoyed. You had played all throughout high school on the girls’ team but stopped at the college level because you needed to focus on your studies. Now, going into your second year of college, you needed money to keep yourself out of student loans, so you took a job that paid a lot since you were working a lot. You enjoyed working with kids, so all you could do was pray for a good group that didn’t make you want to rip your hair out.

  
You sigh and shift the phone to your hand. “Yeah, at least it’s short.” You continue your rant to your friend. “But it’s super out in the country, so I doubt there’ll be service for me to talk after-hours.”  
“Oh no. Not being able to yell at me for hours about your problems? That’ll be what kills you, not the kids.” You chuckle, putting your last essentials into the suitcase.

  
“Oh yeah, definitely.” You straighten up, stretching. “Okay, I got plenty of clothes, shoes, toiletries, sleeping bag, pillow, snacks, stuff for heat, stuff for cold, and entertainment. Anything else I need?”

  
You hear quiet. “I mean, I’m not the one going. They gave you a list of stuff, right?”

  
“I mean yeah, but they also provide other stuff, and this is as much as I can fit in two cases without seeming like I’m overpacking.” You tap your chin, thinking for a moment. “Yep, I think I’m good for tomorrow.”

  
“You dummy. Leaving tomorrow and packing super last minute.” You roll your eyes. They know you tend to procrastinate, but at least you got it done.

  
“It’s done, and that’s all that matters. Now I’m gonna crash, and I’ll text you if I have service or WiFi.” You zip up the suitcase and start to set it by your door.

  
“Alright, make that cash money! We’ll go on a nice day out to de-stress you once you get back.” 

  
You smile. It sounded perfect after a long summer of exercise, but at least you’ll get a nice beach body from working out every day. “Yeah, definitely. Alright, talk to you when I can. Goodnight!” 

  
“Goodnight, talk soon.” With their voice wishing you well, the call ends, and you flop onto your bed and check the time. You’re not going to get 8 hours, but maybe you’ll find an empty seat on the bus and take a nap on the long drive. You set your headphones on your suitcase so you don’t forget, and then dive under the covers, drifting off in preparation for the summer ahead. 

~

Your alarm rings in the morning, and you crack your eyes open to the sight of it still being dark outside. You groan in protest, but you know that you need to be on time so you don’t miss the bus. Dragging yourself out of bed, you sloppily tie your hair up and get ready for the day, putting on the clothes you left out and making a quick and easy breakfast. With your watch on your wrist, you check the time. You weren’t on time, but at least you weren’t too late. Making sure to lock everything behind you, you get in your car and make the drive to the bus stop.

It was still early, as you had a long drive ahead of you, so you didn’t see many cars on the road. You tried blasting some music to wake you up, but you could only think about passing out on the bus and taking a nap for the many hours of driving ahead of you. 

  
You reached the bus stop and saw your director waiting with a few other counselors bundled up in the chilly morning air. Locking your car, you drag your suitcases behind you, trying to keep your eyes as awake as you can as you reach your director. 

  
“Good morning!” Your director, Sato, had a big smile on his face, and you tried to give one back with little success. “Excited for a fun summer?”

  
“Oh yeah. As soon as I get a few more hours of sleep in me.” He laughs, and you lean against your suitcase as you wait for more counselors to arrive. “So...I’m on the middle school bus, right?”  
Sato straightens for a moment. “Ah, about that. So we actually hired a few more counselors since training, so you’re gonna be moved to the elementary school group.”

  
A huge smile spreads across your face instantly. “Really?” You have to contain your excitement in front of your coworkers, but you cheer a quiet “yes” as your director chuckles. 

  
“Yeah, don’t be too bummed out.” You compose yourself in front of your superior, and he motions to the group behind him. “The elementary group is over there, but I’ll be on the middle school bus. But don’t worry, I’ll be hopping back and forth between the two camps, even though they’re basically separated.”

  
You look behind him and see a few unfamiliar faces. You did your training with the middle school counselors, so you didn’t know the elementary counselors as well. But hey, at least you’re with your preferred group, so you’re happy.

  
“Sounds good!” You bow slightly to your director to excuse yourself, and then start to move over to your group of counselors. You hear a bus pull up, but only to the middle school group, and you realize your bus is coming a little later, so you figure now is the time to introduce yourself to the people you’ll be working with for the summer.

  
At the group, you see mostly boys, and one small group of girls that were chattering among themselves, back to you. But a group of three boys talking notice you, and shoot a friendly smile, approaching you. You recognize them from training, but they were in a different group and you didn’t interact too much with them, so you completely forgot their names. You see a muscular man with short, black hair, a very tall man with long, brown hair, and a shorter man with silvery-grey hair. They wave you over, opening up a spot in the group, and you nervously shuffle over.

  
“Good morning! I remember you from training, but I don’t know if we properly met.” The black-haired man bows his head in greetings. “I’m Sawamura Daichi.” You smile, and bow in response.

  
Then, your attention turns to the brown-haired man, with his hair tied back in a loose ponytail. He bows a little shyly, and then introduces himself as well. “Azumane Asahi. Nice to meet you.” You return the greeting, and then the grey-haired man catches your eye, shooting you a friendly smile.

  
“And I’m Sugawara Koushi, but please, call me Suga. Pleasure to meet you!” You smile back and give your final bow. They all seem friendly, which already makes your heart warm in anticipation. You couldn’t have hoped for anything other than nice coworkers to spend your summer with, and you introduce yourself right back.

  
“So, you three know each other, right?” You start the conversation as you see the middle school bus pull away out of the corner of your eye.

  
Sawamura nods. “We’ve been friends all of high school, and I was captain of the boys’ volleyball team. Suga here was my vice-captain, and we graduated last year.” Clearly, the three were close, if they were friends through high school, which made you a little uncomfortable feeling like the odd one out. But it was better than having no one at all to talk to.

  
You finally see a bus pull up for you, and turn towards it, trying to continue the conversation. You four keep chatting as you put your luggage in the bottom of the bus and the rest of the counselors file in, and Sawamura and Azumane lead the way inside. You follow closely as Suga and you are the last two before the doors close, and look for an empty seat. However, it looks like all but two seats are full, as it was a small bus to conserve gas, space, and prices. 

  
Sawamura and Azumane take one two-person seat, leaving you and Suga for the last seat in front of them. He turns to you with kind hazel eyes, and offers you the window seat. 

  
“Do you mind if I take it? I was going to sleep on the way there, so I can lean against it, but if you want it, please go ahead.”

  
He shakes his head and smiles. “Yeah, no problem at all!” He steps aside to let you pass, and you slide into the seat, as he follows. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, even after pressing yourself up against the wall, and you get a closer look at Suga than your previous conversation offered. He was a handsome young man, with a small mole under his left eye that you assumed was a birthmark. You weren’t complaining about being stuck with him for the few hours of driving, but then again, you just met him. While waiting for the bus to start, with Sawamura and Azumane continuing their conversation, you sheepishly ask a question.

  
“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you decide to do this summer camp?” You hoped it wasn’t too out-of-the-blue or rude, but thankfully his smile told you that he didn’t think of it that way.  
He brushes a particularly long piece of hair out of his eyes. “Well, for one, I love volleyball. All through high school, it pushed me to become a better person, and then I was able to do the same for my juniors as vice-captain. Once I graduated and went back to being an underclassman in college, I still loved that feeling of helping someone grow, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

Plus, I really want to be a teacher, so I thought that if I could teach kids something I really enjoy, it would be good practice for when I would need to teach them other subjects.”

  
You smile. He seemed like such a kind soul, someone you could really connect to. “That’s awesome! What age would you want to teach?”

  
“Elementary.”

  
“Oh, so this camp is right up your alley, huh?” 

  
He chuckles. “Yep, exactly. What about you?” He cocks his head as he asks you in return, and you have to think for a moment. 

  
“Well, I’m a little undecided, but I know I want to work with kids in one way or another. So I want to do something with them, but I also need money for college. I played volleyball in high school as well, but I stopped after I graduated, so I thought this would be a good way to keep my skills up as well as getting some extra cash and experience.”

  
Suga brims that warm smile again, and it’s so contagious that you can’t help cracking one as well. “I love that! There’s nothing like doing what you enjoy and making money while you do it. Cause if you work with something you love, then it’s hardly work anymore.”

  
You nod. “Yeah, I totally agree.” Then, you feel a yawn come on that you try to stiffen, as you’re enjoying the conversation too much. You lean back and look out the window as the bus starts to move, and you see the sun start to rise over the mountains in the distance. “Man, it’s way too early, I’m sorry if I’m not the best conversationalist.” You chuckle, looking back at him, and his eyes are out the window, with the reflection of the sunrise in his pupils. Your heart starts to swell and you crack another sheepish smile, and he catches your eyes once more. 

  
“Oh, no worries. I totally get it. ”He lays back against the seat, slouching down a bit. “I’m probably gonna crash and take a nap as well. In advance, if I fall onto you while sleeping, I’m sorry and please push me off.” You feel a small warmth spread across your cheeks, but quickly shake it off.

  
“Gotcha. And please do the same for me.” You both nod in agreement and you curl up against the window, trying to soothe yourself with the bumpiness of the bus. You hear Suga turning around to chat with Sawamura for a minute, but then the bus goes silent as the counselors start to fall asleep one by one. And you too, drift off within a few minutes.

  
You’re suddenly woken up by a presence on your shoulder, and you don’t know how much time has passed. You want to say at least an hour, judging by the sunlight penetrating your closed eyelids, but that wasn’t your focus right now. You tried to sneakily crack them open, but you already realized what the weight on your shoulder was.

  
What, were you in a rom-com? This couldn’t be real. It was too perfect, you must be dreaming. But the weight was there, and through the peek of your vision, you saw Suga’s form slumped over on you, curled up and breathing gently. Okay. Calm down. You saw him for a few hours during training, and you just properly met this morning. This is normal. This is fine. But nonetheless, you didn’t really feel like pushing him off like he asked you to. 

  
So you just closed your eyes the tiny amount that they were open, feeling the gentle rise and fall of him next to you, and, hoping your face wasn’t too red, went back to sleep. You couldn’t help the tiny smile that the corners of your mouth unconsciously curled into.

  
This was going to be a very interesting summer.


	2. Chapter 2

It seemed to be a few hours later, when the bus hit a particularly nasty bump that jolted you out of your sleep. You gasped as your eyes flew open, landing on Suga that was slouched over his knees, listening to earbuds with eyes closed. He cracked an eye open at you and smiled, taking out the earbud closest to you and sitting up, stretching. 

“Good morning. Enjoy your rest?” You yawn and slump back into the corner by the window.

“Oh yeah, I definitely needed that. How long was I out?” Suga checked the watch on his wrist. The sunlight was much stronger now, and the streams of light that poured in through the windows dappled his soft features. You needed to stop staring so much.

“I think two hours? You were out like a light, but then again, it was prett y early.” He smiles, and you feel a bit of blush creep across your cheeks as you remember the events from midway through your nap. Did he notice? Should you say anything in the first place? Or would that be awkward to someone you barely know?

“Jeez,” You chuckle. “We should be over halfway there then, huh? I hope I didn’t fall over on you or sleep talk or cause any trouble like that.”

He averts his eyes from you for a moment, seemingly checking a text on his phone. “Oh no, you were fine. But then again, I fell asleep too for abo ut an hour, so I wouldn’t know about what happened then.” 

You sit up in the bus and turn around to see Sawamura and Azumane fast asleep, mouths hanging open and leaning on each others’ heads. You giggle quietly, and as Suga raises an eyebrow, you motion to the two and he joins you in snickering at the sight. 

“I’ve got to save this as blackmail.” He whispers with a devious smile on his face, pulling out his phone and snapping a photo. Man, hopefully you looked a little more composed when Suga was passed out on you than they did.

You try to laugh as quietly as you can as Suga continues to brim his mischievous smile. You pull out your own phone to check your maps and how far you were, to find that you were an hour and a half away. Still quite a bit, but enough time for…

“Psst, Suga.” You whisper to him, trying not to disturb the dozing counselors behind you. He moves closer to hear you, and you point to your phone. “I have some movies that I saved for the drive, do you want to watch something?”

He nods, pulling out his earbuds. “Sure, what have you got? We can share my earbuds so we don’t bother everyone else.”

You take an earbud and start scrolling through your library as he looks over your shoulder, his breath barely grazing your face. You compose yourself enough to read the titles. “Let’s see...we have some superhero movies, a rom-com or two...” Your voice fades as your eyes both scan the covers, but then he stops you. 

“Hold on, what’s this?”

You freeze. Of all the movies he could pick, he  was interested in this one? You start to stutter. “Oh, I downloaded this one as a joke. One of those ‘so bad it’s good’ movies, y’know? But it’s pretty bad, and I wouldn’t want you to suffer for the next hour at my hand.”

He smirks. “What’s it about?”

“Uh...a lady who falls in love with a man who turns into a dog during the day. But he’s a man at night. It’s called  _ Love on a Leash _ .”

He leans forward in a snorting laugh, covering his mouth with his hand so not to wake up his sleeping friends behind him. “Oh my God. There’s no competition. We’re watching that one.”

“A-are you sure?” Oh man. You didn’t want to scare him off this early. You couldn’t handle that. But at the same time, it was hilariously bad, so maybe this would be a good bonding moment.

He shrugged. “How bad can it be?”

~

It was bad. It was so bad. You two were shocked, grossed out, and laughing into your hands at the same time to stop your snorting laughter from disturbing the entire bus. Halfway through, Sawamura and Azumane woke up and peered over the seat at the two of you, eyebrows narrowing in concern at what they saw on the screen. You didn’t feel the need to explain to those two, and simply kept enjoying the terribly hilarious chaos. 

You’ve seen it before, and in the moments that you remembered, you let your eyes drift over to Suga, who was enthralled that such a movie could ever exist. Outside the window, you were in a rural area with plenty of trees, almost like a forest, and the sun scattered in and out of the trunks and leaves. They flickered over his features, illuminating his brown eyes like sweet chocolates swirled with the reflection of the summer leaves outside the bus. 

Oh no. 

No no no no. 

You were staring again, but this time, in a different way. 

This time, while staring, you felt a little twang in your chest. Are you serious? One bus ride and you’re already falling for your coworker? Maybe if you didn’t acknowledge it, it would go away. You snapped your head back to the screen and shook off your confusing feelings. You were always a hopeless romantic, and when you fell, you fell  _ hard. _ You couldn’t risk your job on a pretty boy with nice eyes. And a cute smile. And a charming laugh. And a nice personality....

You physically slapped yourself out of your thoughts, bringing a startled look from Suga. “You okay?” He asked. You panicked and scrambled for a cover up.

“Oh, yeah. I just had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming up how terrible this was.” Nice going. You’ve seen this before, dummy. But Suga simply chuckled and turned his attention back. 

After a grueling hour and a half of movie watching, the credits finally rolled. “Wow,” Suga sighed. “You weren’t kidding when you said it was bad.”

You shrug. “I told you. But you still watched it.”

“I guess I did, didn’t I?” He gave a small smile to you. “But hey, we got some team bonding in before we even reached camp by suffering together. So that’s gotta count for something.”

You give a sheepish grin at him. “Yeah, it does!” Just as you spoke, you feel a large bump that thrashes you and Suga around the seat, and you look out the window to see the entrance to the camp passing by. “Oh, perfect timing!”

From behind, Sawamura tapped Suga on the shoulder a nd whispered something into his ear. You looked down at your phone to check something, but out of the corner of your eye you saw his mouth drop in horror. Sawamura and Azumane started laughing as Suga poked them and whispered something back. You didn’t think much of it, probably an old inside joke or something, but when Suga turned back, his face was bright pink and he looked horribly flustered. 

“Everything good?” You ask, raising an eyebrow as the bus slows to a halt. Suga chuckles and shakes his head.

“Yeah, no worries. These two knuckleheads are just giving me a hard time.” The two boys behind him were acting like schoolchildren, poking and prodding Suga with huge smiles on their faces. They had seemed pretty mature when you first met them, but I guess around close friends, even distinguished counselors had their childish moments. It was a cute relationship between the three of them, and it made you smile as the rest of the bus started filing out.

Hopping off the bus behind the three, you see your director waving you over. You grab your luggage from underneath and try and sneak through the crowd to the front, standing on your tiptoes to peek over the taller counselors.

“Good morning everyone!” He projected his voice to reach all the counselors. It was a big camp, and there were a lot of counselors, management, and other staff that all were needed to support the sleepaway students. “I hope you all had a pleasant ride over. We still have a day of preparation to do, so let’s get all set up and ready for a great summer!”

A rise of cheers came from the group of staff, and they all started to disband towards the bunks to unpack. You catch the eye of the three boys and they wave goodbye to you. You signal them a “see you later” and then follow the camp signs towards your cabin.

The counselor’s cabins were one big building divided into individual rooms, but big enough so that each counselor could have their own space and wouldn’t have to bunk with another like the kids. The staff cabin was right next to it, but identical, so you had to do a double-take to make sure you were picking the right one. You push open the door and head inside, walking down a long hallway on the first floor to find a door with your name on it. 

In your room, you find a small space with a bed, a drawer, and a desk with a small light. It looked sort of like a tiny college dorm or apartment, but it was nice to have a little space all to yourself. You flop onto the bed, letting the light pour onto you through the small window. It was rustic, but it was cozy. Taking a deep breath, you sit up and get yourself moving, unpacking everything from your suitcase out into the room somewhere.

Once you finish all your clothes and essentials, you hear a knock on the door. Your director, Sato, calls from outside. “Hey there, once you finish up, we’re meeting at the cafeteria for lunch and planning!”

“Alright, thank you!” You finish up as you hear his footsteps walking away, closing the last drawer, and stepping back to admire the tidy space. This was definitely somewhere you could imagine yourself in for the next few weeks. Taking one last look at your living space for the next month, you open the door and start towards the cafeteria.

Stepping in, most of the counselors were sitting down, including Sawamura, Suga, and Azumane, who see you and wave you over. You take the open spot next to Sawamura and give a friendly greeting as a few more people shuffle in.

“Hey, how’s your bunk?” Suga, sitting across from you, leans forward so he could be heard over the chatter of employees in the large, echoing room. 

“Pretty good. Small, but cozy with a good view. I don’t have any complaints about being there for the next month. How about you guys?”

“I mean, all of our rooms are basically the same, so I guess it’s the same from here.” You four chuckle, and then hear a wave of hushes as the director calls for attention. 

“Listen up everyone!” Sato raises his voice to reach everyone in the cafeteria as the rest of the room falls silent. “Groups have been posted! We have two counselors per 10 kids, as well as a few floaters that go between groups. The paper up here will show you your co-counselor, as well as the kids in your group. Take this time to brainstorm with your co-counselor and touch up any activities for this week, as well as consult me or any of the other staff for supplies you need. As stated in training, mornings will be general summer camp stuff, such as arts and crafts, games, etc, and afternoons will be specifically focused on athleticism and the basics of volleyball. Nighttimes will be all camp, where we will have dinner, campfires, performances, and other activities to socialize and bond with our kids and fellow counselors. Is everyone clear on the schedule?”

A rise of affirmation came from the crowd, and Sato brimmed a big, proud smile. “Alright, that’s what I like to hear! Come up and check your groups, find your co-counselor, and get busy! Lunch will be served in half an hour, so get started!”

The cafeteria got noisy again as every counselor started moving at once, along with you, Suga, Sawamura, and Azumane. You were chatting about who you might get paired up with, but in all likelihood, it would be with someone different. It would take an absolute miracle to stay with any one of them in the huge number of counselors-

“Hey, we’re paired up y/n!” 

You swore your heart stopped. Suga picked up a piece of paper with two names at the top and ten names running down to the bottom. He flipped it around to show you, and sure enough, there were your names at the top. No way. It was too perfect.

But there he was, brimming a huge smile to the point where his mole crinkled as his eyes did. You stood in shock for a moment. “I guess you won’t be able to be rid of me for a while, huh?” A sweet line, but as he said it, your heart absolutely fluttered out of your chest. 

_ Not that I would ever want to. _

“Yep, I guess so. Don’t get sick of me by the end of the summer, okay?” A little self-deprecating, but that was your style of speaking. Honestly, you were a little worried that he would get tired of you, but hopefully, that was just you overthinking. 

“Oh, I would never.” Your face turned light pink, and he handed the paper to you to read the names of your campers. Then, as your nose was buried in the names, you felt a hand on your head. Suga ruffled your hair, like the way you would in a cheesy romance anime, and you immediately felt your face growing hotter. You couldn’t believe this was happening. “Let’s make this a great summer, yeah?” 

You couldn’t speak. You just nodded as the world seemed to stop moving. He pulled his hand off, messing your hair up as it moved away, and checked in with Sawamura and Azumane. They were holding the same sheet of paper, so they had miraculously been paired up too, and looked rather pleased about it. The three boys chatted excitedly, but you couldn’t tear your eyes away from the sight of both of your names together.

After a brief moment, you looked up and saw Azumane and Sawamura walking back to the table. Suga bumped you with his elbow, motioning to follow him. 

“Let’s get started, co-counselor!”


	3. Chapter 3

You followed Suga back to the table, taking a seat next to him after he patted the bench. Sawamura and Azumane sat across from you, starting on their own work and not making conversation anymore. Suga pulled out a notebook and pencil from his bag and flipped it open.

“I have a notebook specifically for camp stuff,” he said, clicking the lead out of the pencil. “It’s full of games, songs, and other things I may need to keep the kids busy. But it’s also good for planning!” 

You smile. “Very prepared of you. We’re going to need it to keep our genius ideas from getting away from us.”

He gives a light chuckle. “Oh yeah. All this genius we’re gonna come up with. These kids will have so much fun, they won’t know what hit them!” 

You start to brainstorm, discussing what you were thinking during the middle school camp, and activities to do. However, most of your activities were geared towards older kids, so they needed some revamping.

For the most part, you could combine your previous ideas with Suga’s new ideas on working with the younger group. Your paper with names and ages showed that you had the youngest group: the 3rd graders. They weren’t super skilled at the actual game, but they had plenty of energy to work with, and they would probably enjoy the crafts and games more than the older kids. You two were okay with this, and the group looked like there were a few siblings that would be able to help each other out. 

“So here’s the thing,” You say, biting your lip in thought. “I can play volleyball and teach it at a higher level, but I haven’t prepared for teaching the absolute basics. I was never a captain, so my teaching skills are a little lacking. But I have plenty of games to play and activities to do! I used to babysit and had to come up with stuff on the fly, so I can cover that part.”

He shrugged with a smile. “Well, that works perfectly! I’m good with teaching volleyball, I used to help to teach at a community center, so I got that part down. But I’m not too good at coming up with activities and stuff. That’s why I write down everything I find in the notebook so I don’t have to freestyle things.” He tapped his pencil on his forehead. “I guess we complete each other with this stuff, huh?” 

You nodded, but your face started to grow warm again. Dang. Was he trying to be flirty, or was this just you overthinking it? He didn’t seem to be intentionally romantic, but all these lines he kept dropping made your heart start to beat faster each time. But he seemed so nonchalant about it all, so maybe it was just his way of speaking. Yeah. That must be it.

“Do you wanna add to the notebook?” His voice snapped you out of your thoughts. “Whatever things you think would be helpful, be my guest and throw it in there. Better to have too many things than too few.”

“Sure, I’ll add what I can.” He passed you the notebook and pencil, scooching closer to you to read over your shoulder. You kept shoving any nerves down as they tried to pop up and simply flipped through past his filled pages to blank ones. He had such neat handwriting, and, sure enough, filled up the sections with all sorts of classic camp songs, the stuff that everyone knew. After seeing what he had down already, you started to think up what you had stored for the middle schoolers. You two bantered back and forth about what he knew and what you knew, and he seemed quite impressed with your knowledge offhand. The praise warmed your heart, and you couldn’t help but smile at the validation.

After a bit of this, a loud bell rang, startling you. You couldn’t help but jump at the noise, which startled Suga as you yelped. “Whoa, you okay there?” He held out his arms instinctively to comfort but set them down as you laughed it off.

“Yeah, it just surprised me. Man, a half-hour has passed already?” You reassured him, breathy, letting your heartbeat settle.

He chuckles. “I guess so. Time flies, huh?” The two of you stand up and follow the crowd to where the food was served. You just noticed the smells coming from the kitchen, mouthwatering meats, bread, soups, and other classic camp foods. You stood in line next to Suga, where you offer him the spot in front of you, but he declines. The line looked to be pretty long, so you decide to kill time.

“So you were vice-captain in high school, right? What school?” 

“Karasuno.”

Your eyes widened and you had to stop your mouth from dropping open. “Wait,  _ the  _ Karasuno high school? That beat Shiratorizawa?” 

Suga raised an eyebrow with a smile. “Oh? Do you happen to be a fan?”

You immediately felt your face get hot. You idiot. You’re making a complete fool of yourself.

“Yep,  _ that _ Karasuno.” He chuckled. “Though it only returned to its prime in my third year. And honestly, the first years were the ones that really pushed that year to its limit.” He closed his eyes, clutching his heart in nostalgia. “They came so far. I’m so proud...”

As you giggle, Suga opens an eye and peeks out at you, cracking a bigger smile. You start to speak, half to Suga but half to yourself. “You weren’t kidding about being good at teaching volleyball then if you lead that team.”

He shrugged. “Well, Daichi over there helped me out a lot,” He said, motioning to Sawamura back in line with Azumane. “He was more stern and determined, kind of a “tough love” at times. But he didn’t mess around and really pushed the team to their limits. He could also be terrifying at times when people goofed off too much.” He gave a small laugh. “I guess I was kind of the opposite. I didn’t play too many games, so I made up for it by boosting morale and improving strengths on and off the court. But I had my chaotic moments too, which may have kept the energy higher than it should be sometimes.”

You both chuckled and continued chatting as the line moved forwards. As you got to the front, you took only what you wanted, trying not to overeat and waste anything on the first day. Suga, on the other hand, piled his plate with plenty of food. It made sense. When you looked closer, he was very toned and muscular, even though he had an average height and didn’t look incredibly strong. It must have come from being on a powerhouse team, you needed a lot of food to build and repair all that muscle. 

You snapped yourself out from staring too much as he walked back towards you, following you back to the table. You two continued chatting about this and that, and you really felt the click as the conversation went on. He was so gentle and seemed to genuinely care about volleyball and teaching it, but he would get a mischievous glint in his eyes every once in a while. You couldn’t help it. You felt yourself falling for him. It had only been so long, but it felt like days have gone by.

Not a good situation to be in.

As you built out your schedule more and more, you found yourself subconsciously moving closer and closer as you spoke. And whenever Suga looked over your shoulder at whatever you were writing, you felt your heartbeat quicken. Man. You really were a hopeless romantic, falling for your coworker like this. 

  
Wait. That’s right. He was your _coworker._

Not only that, but he was your co-counselor. You guys were going to be together almost all day for the next month, and you couldn’t jeopardize your job or the kids’ summers for a little workplace crush. You had to shut it out. No matter how much you wanted to, you couldn’t have a summer romance. Not this time.

You shake your head, raising a look from Suga, but it’s quickly ignored. It was mostly for you anyways.

“By the way,” His low yet soft voice pulls you gently back to the conversation. “Have you thought of your camp name?”

Camp name. Right. “I have a few I was thinking about, but I can’t really decide.” Camp names were based in nature, used so the kids wouldn’t know a counselor’s real name. Plus, it was fun to have a weird name for the summer and let kids try to guess your actual name. You thought for a moment. “I think I’m gonna go for Cinnamon. I love it in teas and sweets like cinnamon buns and stuff, so it works.” You chuckle. “Plus, it’ll be a message to the kids that I’m good if they behave, but I may get a little spicy and heated if things get out of hand.”

Suga let out that tinkling laugh again. “I think it’s perfect! Way more creative than mine was going to be. I was just going to add an “r” and make it Sugar so I wouldn’t get confused. Now I gotta think of something that matches yours in terms of creativity.” 

“But that works too!” You blurt out. Your brain seemed to be running on its own, and you couldn’t stop yourself from complimenting him. “It’s easy, and it’s sweet! It fits you perfectly.”

Crap.

Immediately, you wanted to put your head straight into your heads. This is why you can’t flirt, you were way too obvious without thinking beforehand. But Suga didn’t seem to care and just smiles at you with a twinkle in his eyes. “Aw, thanks. I guess I’ve got to keep it as Sugar now if it’s so perfect. And it also works with yours, since we’re gonna be co-counselors. We got the sweet and the spicy, opposites that work together.”

You feel your face immediately flush. Were you  _ sure _ he wasn’t flirting with you? You brush it off as your imagination, but something about his words just touches your heart in the perfect way. He was probably just way too nice, and you’re looking into it too much as always. But something about how his eyes held yours just a little longer made you want to think otherwise.

“Y-yeah,” You manage to choke out. “Cinnamon and Sugar. We sound like the protagonist duo of a TV show or something.” 

He turns away, taking his pencil to the paper with the kids’ names. You watch as he writes “Cinnamon” over your name, and then a plus sign, and then “Sugar” over his own. “Perfect.” He says, winking at you with pride. Your brain feels like it’s melted, about to spill out of your ears and leave a singular brain cell to pilot your body around. But somehow you drag your conscious back to finish up the week’s activities, and then you and Suga sigh with relief at the completed list.

“Hey, we did it!” He holds up a hand for high five, to which you immediately reciprocate. His hands were big, compared to your baby hands, which probably comes in handy (ha ha) when playing. But hey, your small hands lets you connect to the kids easier, right?

“Part one done,” You breathe. “Now we just have to get our supplies ready for the week.” You take a moment to look at the list. “I think we should be able to figure it out through what we have written, and we can check the supply shed before we run around trying to find this and that.”

Suga nods, and together you stand up and head towards the shed. Chatting on the way there of what you need, you refe rence the paper and figure out what you would be able to get easily. 

“Oh, by the way, do you know where we’re supposed to bring the supplies?” You question him, and he puts a hand to his chin, thinking. 

“I think we have designated areas where we start the day, and we can keep all of our stuff there,” He said. “Yeah, see? On the bottom it says “Group 3”, and there were all of those marked areas when we came in, so we must have the third area.”

You sigh. “Ah, perfect then.” You pull up to the shed, creaking open the door to reveal a stuffy, low-lit storage container filled to the brim with crafts supplies, volleyball equipment, and other random things shoved onto shelves that reached the roof. Needless to say, it didn’t seem too organized. You gingerly entered, trying not to bump into anything.

“Oh boy.” Suga breathed, stepping in behind you. “This’ll be fun.” You chuckle and hand him the list, trying to find things that stuck out that you could pull immediately. First things first, you took a lonely box of spare craft supplies and set it outside, along with a few volleyballs and team vests. Back inside, the humidity of being inside a glorified oven was stinging your lungs, but you had to get what you needed. Suga was pulling a box off the top shelf, setting it down, and cracking it open. “Hey, look at this!”

You step over and look over his shoulder, and ignoring his smile in the corner of your eye, you see the box chock-full of markers, googly eyes, letter beads, and other random craft supplies. You grin and pull out the letter beads, seeing that there’s also string in the bag. “Hey, we could make bracelets out of these!”

He steps back and nods, but then his face drops. You raise an eyebrow and he lowers his voice. “Y/n, don’t freak out, but there’s a spider on you.”

You freeze. His voice was calm, but his face said otherwise. With a shaking voice, trying not to move, you manage to choke out a “W….where?” He grabs a piece of paper from the craft supplies and brings it to your hand that holds the bag of beads, and you can suddenly feel pointed legs crawling on it. You bite the inside of your cheeks to not scream or thrash around, and he slowly slides the paper under the spider, which you see as large and brown. He takes it off and tosses it outside, and, realizing that you were holding your breath, you exhale loudly as a bead of sweat runs down your forehead. You were such a baby sometimes.

“Hey,” he said, moving back to you and patting your back reassuringly. “You’re fine. Let’s just grab what we need and get out, yeah?” You look up at him, and just as your heart was settling from nerves, it kicked right back up with Suga’s gentle eyes smiling at you in the low light, and his hand rubbing your back in comfort. You shoot up, nodding, and turn away to avoid him seeing your flushed cheeks. 

You ignore every emotion your body is feeling and try to just grab anything and everything to get out of the shed as quickly as possible. Your arms full, you emerge from the shed and breathe in air that wasn’t warm and humid. Suga follows soon behind you, piling everything into a box and hoisting it up.

“Here, let me help you with that,” You offer, as he looks like he’s struggling with it. He thanks you and you grab the other side. It was heavy, but the two of you together combined enough strength to carry it. As you reached under to hold it, your fingers brushed against his, only for a moment. You pretended not to notice and started walking, but out of the corner of your eye, you saw his head shoot up at you. When you didn’t respond, he kept walking, but you glanced back at him and saw that his face seemed to be dusted with a light shade of pink.

He must have just been flushed from the heat and carrying the box of supplies. That’s the only plausible reason.

You had to stop overthinking all of this.


	4. Chapter 4

After a long day of carrying supplies to and fro to set up for the coming week, you and Suga collapsed back into the cafeteria, sore and tired. It was almost time for dinner, and you sat at the table, crossing your arms and laying your head on the table. 

  
“Man, I’m beat.” You say, muffled into your arms. Suga lays down next to you, balancing himself on the bench and stretching out on his back. 

“Yeah, me too,” Lifting your head up, you look down and see him sigh deeply, his eyes closed in exhaustion. “Wake me when they serve dinner, okay?”

You chuckle. “I think you’re gonna have to wake  _ me _ up. I’m ready to pass out here and now.”

“Well I’m sure one of us will be woken up eventually. Either that or we’ll starve to death.” The two of you give a small laugh, albeit low energy after a lot of manual labor. You didn’t think you would be this exhausted, but the lack of sleep must have caught up to you in the end. But you probably wouldn’t actually fall asleep, just have a little breather before you ate. 

The way your head rested gave you a perfect view of Suga, who was lying peacefully by your side, chest rising and falling gently. You were glad his eyes were closed, because you caught yourself staring at his soft features, how his mouth was slightly open and his eyes twitched as he drifted into sleep. You couldn’t help but smile, and felt your own eyelids close, letting the sound around you muffle as you space out into your own mind.

You didn’t know if you fell asleep or not, but the next thing you know, you hear the large  _ clang _ of the dinner bell, and you jolt up out of your position. Suga does the same, startling awake with a yelp, and sleepily rubs his eyes as he looks at you. “Guess we didn’t have to worry about oversleeping, huh?” He says lazily.

You chuckle. “Yep, I guess not,” Watching as he stretches and sits up next to you, you raise your voice slightly as counselors start to flock to the line for food. “Did you actually fall asleep?” You inquire.

“What, me? Never.” With perfect comedic timing, he starts to yawn, and then slaps his hand over his mouth and looks wide-eyed at you. You both giggle, and then you tap his shoulder, as if to say “up and at ‘em”.

“Come on sleepyhead, it’s dinnertime.” You stand up and stretch your back, and as Suga follows you, you see Sawamura and Azumane across the hall. They spot you and wave, and you motion for Suga to follow as you head towards them.

Sawamura greets you with a friendly smile as you all get in line together. “How goes the first day?” He asks, as Suga pats his cheeks to wake himself up. 

“It was a lot,” You say, as you tear your eyes away from Suga and back to the two boys. “But we got a lot done. We should be ready for the week, all we have to do is wait until we actually meet our group. How about you?”

Azumane rubs the back of his neck nervously. “Well, we still have a bit of planning to do, but we should have all the supplies in place. I’m just not sure how the kids will react to our ideas, so we have to work it out as we go along.” 

“I’m sure it’ll go smoothly!” Suga said, giving his friends a big thumbs up. “Daichi, you’re a great leader and teacher, and Asahi’s just a big teddy bear, so the kids are sure to love you no matter what.”

You stood out of the conversation as the three men continued catching up, listening in to their inside jokes and references you didn’t understand. But that was alright, you’ve been spending the whole day with Suga, he probably needed the time with his friends. So you simply took your food as they continued chatting and headed back to the table. Whether or not they noticed, you didn’t mind, as long as you weren’t interrupting anything.

Yet when you saw them walking towards you and sitting down at your table, you couldn’t help but smile. Soon enough, they were involving you in their conversation, and you felt like one of the group, even after this short period of time.

“So,” Sawamura said after a mouthful of food. “What are your camp names, you two?”

You and Suga looked at each other with small smiles. “Well,” Your co-counselor states. “I decided to make things easy on myself and have mine be Sugar, and Y/n decided on...” He waves his hands towards you with a flourish.

“Cinnamon!” You exclaim with jazz hands, and the two other counselors nod in approval. 

“Very fitting, both of you.” Sawamura murmurs, leaning back in his seat. “And a much nicer combination than ours, we didn’t try and match it or anything.”

“What are yours?” You inquire, cocking your head to one side.

“Asahi is Grizzly, cause he’s tall and scary but really a big softy, and mine is Moose.”

“Moose, huh? Any reason in particular?” Suga questioned, taking a sip of water and raising an eyebrow.

Sawamura let out a hearty laugh. “Cause they’re big and nice most of the time, but you’d better not get them angry!” This gathered chuckles from the whole table, and Sawamura looked rather pleased with himself.

“I still think I can find a better name than Grizzly,” Azumane laid his head on the table. “I feel like I might scare the littler kids off with that.”

“Nonsense!” Suga grinned, playfully punching his friend’s shoulder. “Every kid loves the friendly grizzly mascots, they’re big and huggable! Don’t let that attitude get to you before we even start.”

Azumane lifted his head up with a weak smile before poking into his food. The conversation continued, discussing plans for activities, schedule, and other technical aspects of the job. It was a little bit for your sake, making sure that you’ve done everything right so you didn't mess up on the first day. Sawamura and Azumane seemed to have everything together, and you wonder if they’ve done a camp like this before. But maybe the elementary school orientation was just more detailed than the middle school one, since younger kids needed a bit more control as to not let any situations get out of hand. 

“Oh, do you guys know if we’re doing all camp after dinner?” Suga pipes up as his plate is cleared, and it catches you off guard. Right. All camp. Where it’s a free for all among counselors to try and entertain the whole group with songs, performances, skits, and other things. You were never much of a performer, and just the idea of getting up and embarrassing yourself in front of Suga and the others made you shudder. 

“I think we are,” Sawamura leaned back, crossing his arms. “But I think it’s more of an introductory thing rather than the actual entertaining we do for kids. We haven’t really had the chance to see all the other counselors since we’ve been running around and preparing. We did see them during training, though, so I don’t know how that’s going to go.”

Your eyes dart to the faces of each of them, and rest on Azumane, who looked like he was going to be sick. “Are you good, Azumane?” He didn’t look up, but just spoke with a nervous stutter.

“That’s the one part of camp I wasn’t looking forward to, I’m terrible on stage. I don’t think any of the kids will take nicely to someone like me trying to lead songs. I don’t know if they’ll even be able to hear me.” 

With that, Suga stood up and moved behind his friend, grasping his shoulders and shaking him back and forth. “Get. That. Negativity. Out. Of. Your. Head. Asahi!” With each shake, Azumane looked like he was going to cry or throw up, or both. When Suga finally let him go with a big smile, the taller man gave a small smile before leaning his head in his hands.

“Well,” You chime in, trying to lighten the air. “If it’s just introductions tonight, then we won’t have to worry about doing anything on the spot. Plus, we can get the feel for what might happen with the actual kids.”

Suga walked back and sat next to you, giving you a gentle nudge on the shoulder. “There you go! That’s what I like to hear.” With sour looks from Sawamura and Azumane, Suga simply gave a big smile. “We’ll be fine. It’s not like we have to sing or dance in front of everyone.”

“At least, not  _ yet _ .” You murmur quietly under your breath. Suga shoots you a teasing glare, and you giggle softly.

Sawamura sighed. “We’ll live. It balances out with all the volleyball we’ll be playing, so we can’t complain too much.”

You looked around, and realized that you four were some of the last in the cafeteria, and that some of the last counselors were approaching you. A group of three girls, wearing camp t-shirts and shorts, walking up to your table with small grins. They catch the boys’ attention and wave as they lock eyes with each of them.

“Hey there,” One says, a tall blonde with hair pulled back into a ponytail and sunglasses on her head. She seemed to be eyeing up Suga, and you felt yourself feeling a little uncomfortable for some reason. “All camp is gonna start at 7, just letting you guys know.” 

You flash a smile, trying to get them away from the group as quickly as possible. “Oh, thank you!” The three girls were looking the boys up and down, but gave them a quick smile before leaving. Azumane and Sawamura watched them go, but Suga had his eyes on his two friends. He snapped his fingers in front of them and they startled, Azumane quickly gaining a pinkish hue on his face.

Suga frowned, and wagged his finger like a mother scolding her children. “No ideas you two. You know better than to fall for a coworker.”

The three boys chuckled, but secretly, your heart sank. Almost as if you disappointed him, because little did he know, you already broke that rule.

“Do you guys know them?” You question, feeling all sorts of emotions rise up inside you, but trying to ignore them.

Suga shrugged. “We saw them at training, but honestly, I forgot their names.” He looked a little sheepish, almost ashamed that he couldn’t remember. You didn’t really care though. “I guess it’s a good thing we’ll meet them again and get introduced properly.” He chuckled, but you didn’t laugh with them.

Immediately getting lost in your thoughts, you followed on autopilot as the boys stood up and headed towards the stage where all camp was held. It was summer so the days were long, but the sun was still starting to dip below the trees, casting a gentle glow over the camp as you walked. Even though you were in no position to think rationally, or even at all, your eyes tended to drift over to Suga’s face, flashing back to the words he said. You knew that you were already falling hard. You’ve only spent hours with this man, but you could feel your heart flutter no matter what he did. It wasn’t like you to fall this hard this quickly, but something about him was just...special. 

And it was not a good situation to be in.

As you caught yourself staring, you saw Suga’s eyes dart to you, and you immediately pulled yourself away. He didn’t say anything, in fact, you doubted whether or not he actually glanced at you or if it was just a trick of the light. But your brain was still empty, just bouncing Suga’s words around and around in the seemingly hollow space in your head. 

But before you know it, you reach the amphitheater where all camp was going to be held, and find a seat near the back for Azumane’s sake. Counselors were already basically there, but since the amphitheater had enough space for counselors and campers, there were a lot of open seats. Seated away from other groups, Azumane was very pale in anticipation of getting up in front of everyone. Although he was the tallest out of all of them, he shrunk down so much to the point where it looked like he was the size of a camper. Sawamura offered a few pats on his shoulder before Sato, the director, got up and started to get everyone’s attention.

“Good evening counselors!” He raised his voice to reach everyone, but all the counselors immediately piped down. “I’m sure we’re all excited for our first all camp, yeah?” The more animated counselors yelled back to him, but your group was mostly quiet. “Well, I know I’m definitely ready to connect with you all for the first time since training, so let’s get started! I have a list of groups I’ll read off, and when you hear your group called, please both counselors come down and introduce yourselves! Give us your normal name, your camp name, and some fun facts about yourself! Let us get to know you a little bit!”

A few scattered conversations erupted from the crowd, and then Sato had one more thing to explain. “Also, we’re going to get in the habit of doing lots of songs with the kids, so when counselors come down to the stage, sing this little chant! Get it in your heads so that we do it automatically with our campers!”

He burst into song, and all the counselors immediately silenced. Some chuckled, but most caught on easily. Ready to practice, Sato called the first group, and the song started off a little scattered before growing stronger. Counselors went and introduced themselves, most were very animated with fun camp names like “Acorn”, “Nutmeg”, “Sweet Pea”, and others. And with every group that was called, Azumane looked more and more nervous, even as Sawamura and Suga tried to reassure him that he would be fine. Admittedly, you could feel your heart pounding as the number of uncalled counselors dwindled, but you tried to focus only on Azumane, who was panicking much more than you were.

Then, a group caught your attention. It was two of the three girls you had seen earlier, and the boys immediately stopped moving and had their eyes focused on them. One was a taller brunette with glasses and two long pigtails, and another was a smaller, nervous-looking girl with black hair that had a small streak of purple running down the front. The taller brunette cleared her throat and spoke with a loud commanding voice.

“Greetings fellow counselors, my name is Tora, but you can call me by my camp name Willow. I am an honor student in school, as well as captain of the volleyball team and president of the Key Club, and I spend my free time reading and volunteering at animal shelters.” She pushed her glasses onto her face, which gleamed in the spotlights that illuminated the stage. She had a commanding presence, but you felt overwhelming respect for her. You saw Suga push Sawamura out of the corner of your eye, as he was hypnotized and practically drooling over her.

Willow stepped back, and gestured for the shorter girl to come forward, and she did so with a much weaker presence than her co-counselor. Her voice was quieter, but even from the distance, you could see her piercing eyes looking into the crowd, and it was almost intimidating if you locked her gaze and ignored her overall persona. “I’m Anri, I’m a part of the Supernatural club at my school that takes trips to abandoned and possibly haunted locations around my town. I like alternative music, I love listening to it while playing volleyball, and I own 3 rats back home.” Willow nudged her, reminding her to present her camp name, to which she grinned and, with a tone that dripped irony, replied “Sunshine.” 

A few giggles erupted from the crowd as they showed themselves off the stage, and both Sawamura and Azumane were equally awestruck. Honestly, it seemed like they matched the male counselors’ personalities in a weird way, and you and Suga looked at each other and chuckled. But then, your director called the next name, and the third girl of that group, the tall blonde, stepped onto the stage with her co-counselor.

Her hair was obviously dyed blonde, but her high ponytail swung back and forth with a bounce as she stepped onto the stage. She scanned the crowd, before fixing her eyes on you and Suga with a glare that could slice you in half. Brandishing a big smile, she stepped in front of her partner and loudly introduced herself.

“I’m Yukiko, also known as Diamond! I was the star of my high school volleyball team, as well as homecoming court and prom queen. I was also on the cheer squad for the first year of high school, but volleyball seemed much more fun so I switched.In my free time I love doing makeup for me and my friends, and watching romantic comedies!” God. She was such a cliche that you could almost puke from the sweetness. But you had to admit, she was attractive, but you felt a knot in your stomach when it looked like she winked into the crowd directed at Suga. You glanced at him, but he didn’t seem like he had much of a reaction, just fixating on the stage. You couldn’t tell if that was hypnosis from her swinging ponytail or just disinterest, but you didn’t really want to find out.

It didn’t matter what her co-counselor said after her, every eye was focused on Diamond, flashing her pearly-white smile. She commanded the presence and she knew it, and honestly you couldn’t imagine why she was even at this camp to begin with. She probably just wanted to show off in front of the male counselors. The very idea made your head ache from the basic-ness of it all.

But immediately after she exited the stage, Sawamura and Azumane were called up, causing them to shuffle towards the stage as you and Suga sang the song especially loud for them. Sawamura commanded attention with his booming voice, but Azumane had a much harder time introducing himself. Nonetheless, they got it over with, and as they snuck back to their seats, it looked like Azumane was about to pass out at any moment, and Suga started fanning his friend with his hands to prevent it.

Before you knew it, you heard your name along with Suga’s, and you two glance at each other. He grins at you, motioning to follow him, and you take a deep breath as you move closely behind him. The song from the other counselors echo around you, and you try to calm your nerves in front of the crowd. He steps back, letting you go first, which in any other situation would have been sweet. But you would have given anything for him to go first. Alas, you swallowed your fear and spoke as loud as you could, hoping the shake in your voice wasn’t noticeable. 

“I’m Y/n, but my camp name is Cinnamon. I played volleyball in high school and hope to polish my skills because I also love working with kids. In my free time, I like to...” 

Your mind goes blank for some reason. In a panic, you try to fill the space, before glancing back at Suga, who gives you a subtle thumbs up. You take a deep breath and continue introducing yourself, giving a sigh and letting Suga step forward as you finish.

“I’m Sugawara, but at camp, call me Sugar!” With a calming, friendly presence, he goes about introducing himself. The smile never leaves his face, but in the crowd, you spot Diamond fixated on him. She whispers something to one of her friends next to her, who giggles and pushes her away playfully. But before you can even begin to overthink what she might have said, your co-counselor finishes and leads you offstage. 

Going back to sit with your two other friends, you realize your heart is pounding, and you let a big breath out. 

“You okay there?” Sawamura asks, seeing your nervous figure as you sit down. 

You nod. “Yeah, just trying to calm down. Public speaking isn’t really my forte, so I was trying to hold it together that whole time.”

Azumane chuckles, finally seeming to have relaxed after stressing out the whole time. “Well I get that, but at least it’s over now.”

Suga smiles next to you reaching over and rubbing your arm at an attempt to comfort you. “Yeah, and you did well! I could hardly even tell you were nervous.” You give him a grin, but then out of the corner of your eye you see Diamond glaring at you, before catching your gaze and whipping back around. What was her deal? You had spoken once but it already felt like she was out to get you somehow. Your mind starts running wild with the thoughts of highschool-esque drama erupting, and you decide that you should probably keep your distance from her as much as possible.

You already have enough on your mind, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, thank you for keeping up with the story! i know adding in some oc's might be a controversial decision, but just hear me out! The three counselors are kind of a foil to your three boys, and i'm trying not to make them too cringey, but hey, with so many counselors, i had to toss in some new characters to...well...shake things up, so to say. let me know what you think so far! i love hearing feedback :)


	5. Chapter 5

With introductions wrapped up, the next section of all camp was learning camp songs, so everyone stood up and started bringing energy at Sato’s request. It was easier doing it from the seats of the amphitheater than the stage, so even Azumane was singing with a deep voice from the back. But to you, it blurred by, and before you knew it, the counselors were dispersing to have free time at their dorms before lights-out. You waved the three boys goodnight as you headed to your room, realizing along the way that you could finally call your best friend and rant to them about the events of the day. Because  _ wow _ , there were a lot of events to discuss. 

After changing into your pajamas and cleaning up before bed, you checked your phone and saw a mass of missed messages, and grinned at the sight of a few bars. It wasn’t ideal, but at least there was a little bit out here. Thankfully, there were also outlets, so you could be fully connected for some late night rant sessions before bedtime.

You called, but it only took a ring or two before their voice started screaming in your ear.

“Took you long enough!” Their voice was a bit garbled, but still understandable, and you felt a smile creep across your face. 

“I’m sorry! It was a crazy busy day, I didn’t have any time to call until now, and I only have an hour or two until I have to be quiet anyways. Let me get all this out to you real quick.” After hearing their approval, you take a deep breath and start spilling out every event of the day, from the bus ride to all camp. They didn’t speak until you finished, and then you were met with an earful of:

“You IDIOT! You’re falling for your  _ co-counselor _ after a DAY?” You try and lay next to your pillow to muffle their voice, but there was only so much you could do to cover up their screams.

“It’s not a big deal, it’s just probably being a little touch-starved and craving attention...I’m sure it’ll go away in a week or so.” You didn’t want to actually think that way, but it was probably the most plausible. Plus, it would save you from the fate of having a summer spent pining over your co-counselor.

You hear your best friend sigh over the phone. “Well, at least you acknowledge it. He sounds like a nice guy, so you’re not putting yourself through hell by falling for some bad boy that’ll immediately break your heart or something.”

Chuckling, you stretch out on your bed. “Yeah, you’re right. I could have made it a lot worse on myself.”

“Did anything else happen other than him?”

You think for a moment, but the only other thing of note were the three female counselors. “Kind of, but it’s not as big of a deal as the other thing. There were these three girls who are also working as counselors, and it looks like they were totally sizing up Suga, Azumane, and Sawamura. Two of them seem like good matches for the other two, but the one who had eyes on Suga was a total cliche. I’m talking blonde hair, prom queen, peaked-in-high-school type girl. Her sweetness made me sick.”

Over the phone, your friend made fake vomiting sounds, which made you chuckle. “Oh God, I can hear her voice right now. Let me guess, she plays volleyball to show off in her $100 leggings to the guy counselors?”

“That’s the vibe I get from her, yeah.” You sigh. “But I can’t judge too much based on appearance, I’m sure she’s nice under her persona. As long as she leaves me and my co-counselor alone.” You sort of grumble the last part, but it gets through the speaker enough.

“Just give it time. It’s the first day after all. And you should head to bed, you’re probably exhausted, right?” At their words, you realize how tired you truly are, even with your half-hour nap from earlier. 

“Yeah,” You mutter, the exhaustion starting to finally hit you. “I should probably turn in. But I’ll let you know any other status updates if something big happens.”

You hear a small laugh through the speaker. “Yeah, you better! I’ll let you sleep. Talk to you soon!”

“Talk to you soon, night!” With a click, they hang up, and you stand up to plug it in before collapsing under the covers. Your mind was buzzing, but somehow, despite everything that happened that day, you fell asleep as soon as your head touched the pillow.

You had a dreamless sleep, and woke up at the sound of your alarm and the ligh t glimmering in gently through the large window. It was early, but you could already hear activity outside. Dragging yourself up and out of bed, you put on your camp t-shirt, some comfortable shorts, and some sneakers. You didn’t really see any reason to dress up more than the basics, it’s not like the kids cared about how nice your outfit looked on the first day of camp. 

Oh right. Today was officially the first day of camp. The kids were showing up later in the day. 

You rushed out of your room, slinging your backpack full of camp supplies on your back. You had all the essentials in it: Water bottle, sunscreen, chapstick, etc, along with some random games to fill time or any extra things you may need through the day. But you still needed your roster and schedule for the week, so you headed towards the cafeteria, seeing other counselors heading inside in front of you. Once inside, your eyes dart around, trying to find your friends from the day before. Your eyes catch on a head of silver hair at one table, and you power towards it.

Approaching Suga from behind, he didn’t see you, and was instead tucking into a plate of breakfast food with Azumane and Sawamura, chatting away. You sneak up and tap him on the shoulder, to which he looks at you and smiles. “Good morning, Sugar!” You say with as much energy as you can muster. “I’m gonna go grab some food, so save my spot, alright?”

“You got it, Cinnamon!” He gives you a salute and you wave, nodding at the other two as you head over to the line. You get your food as fast as you can before heading back, but on your way, your heart drops. 

Standing over the boys’ table were the three girls from last night, Sunshine, Willow, and Diamond. Each seemed like they had picked a boy that they had taken a liking to. In the moment, Willow was standing by Sawamura, chatting him up while the man looked incredibly flustered. Sunshine was sitting next to Azumane, and they both had shy smiles on their face but seemed pretty comfortable. But the one you couldn’t tear your eyes off of was Diamond. She was leaning on the table in front of Suga, who had an emotion that was a little difficult to read on his face. You couldn’t tell if he was flustered, uninterested, or just polite and friendly, but Diamond was flipping her hair and laughing flamboyantly. Your hands gripped your tray as you walked closer, but luckily Suga caught your gaze and waved at you, causing Diamond to turn around and lock eyes with you. She had the same vibe as a lion who just had an intruder walk in on her territory, but her mouth was still smiling.

“Oh hey! Cinnamon, right? I remember you from last night!” Diamond kept the cheerful expression plastered on her face, but it seemed almost fake when she pulled her attention from Suga. “Ooh, is that what the cafeteria is serving? It looks  _ so _ good!” 

Sunshine looked up from her conversation with Azumane. “Hey there, good to see you again. Diamond, we should probably go get our food and get ready.” The smaller girl gave off an air of softness, even though she had on bold black eyeliner and a darker lipstick. Although she looked intimidating at first, Azumane seemed very comfortable talking to her, which was interesting to you.

Willow turned away from Sawamura and walked over to Diamond, pulling Sunshine with her. “Yes, let’s. We only have so many hours until the campers arrive.” She said in a sternly analytical voice, pushing her glasses up on the brim of her nose.

“Oh, do you know what time they’re showing up?” Sawamura, seemingly desperate to continue the conversation, could not pull his eyes away from the tall brunette.

“The bus leaves at noon, so depending on traffic, it should be around 4 or 5. Enough time for them to do introductions, dinner, and all camp before bed.” Willow dragged Sunshine over to where Diamond was, away from the two boys they were conversing with.

Diamond gave one more hair flip in Suga’s direction. “Well, it was nice talking to you guys! See you at all camp.” She gave one more cheesy smile and then walked away with her two friends, all chattering excitedly.

You sighed, finally setting your food down next to Suga. “Hey guys, what was that about?” Hoping for some answers, you quietly chew your food while presenting the question.

“Not sure, they just showed up and started talking to us,” Suga took a long sip of his drink before leaning his head in his hands. “They seem nice though. Maybe we could play against them sometime.”

“I wouldn’t complain about that.” Azumane said dreamily before earning a jab in the side from Sawamura. “Did I say that out loud?”

You chuckle. Suga, however, raised an eyebrow towards the long-haired man. “Asahi, are you alright? You seem especially space-y today. .”

A blush spreads across his face. “Y-yes, of course. Sunshine is just a very interesting girl, and I enjoyed the conversation with her. I-I’m glad we have someone like her as a counselor, she seems very fitting.” Azumane crosses his arms, and Sawamura pokes him gently once more.

“Your red face says otherwise though. How interesting do you think she is?” Sawamura, with a childish grin, got a playful shove from his friend after that last comment.

Suga put his head in his hands. “You better not be falling for a counselor, Asahi. We’re here to teach, and do our job. How are you going to be able to play volleyball if you’re staring at her the whole time?”

“D-don’t give me that! Besides, did you see how Daichi was staring at Willow? Why am I getting the lecture here?” Sawamura turned to Azumane with a stern yet terrifying look, and his friend almost went pale in the face. “Plus, didn’t they say at training that it was okay to date, as long as it didn’t cause any workplace drama?”

At that comment, your mind raced. Did they say that? You didn’t remember anything particular, but maybe you had just missed it. But for just a moment, your sappy, hopelessly romantic heart had a little bit of hope.

But it was interrupted by Suga’s words afterwards. “I mean, it’s not like you’ll get fired for going out with a counselor, but at the same time is it really ideal? You’re out in the sun all day, all sweaty, and you probably won’t even see each other since you’re in different groups.”

“Yeah,” Sawamura said, leaning back after finishing his breakfast. “But if you can get through that with someone, can’t you get through anything? After you’ve seen them at their grossest, sweatiest, most stressed moment?”

Suga put a finger over his mouth in thought. “I mean, I guess. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never dated a coworker.”

You had kept quiet out of the conversation as you ate, but then Azumane brought you out of it. “What do you think, Y/n? Do you think it’s okay for coworkers to get together?”

Pondering for a moment, you strongly consider what you need to say. Act too enthusiastic, and someone might catch on to the fact that you’re in this exact situation. But be too dismissive, and Suga would probably think that you’re not interested in him at all. You weren’t really sure which route to say, but you couldn’t think for very long before your mouth started moving on its own. 

“I think if two people understand the potential risks of dating at work, and they’re smart about it, it could turn into something special.” The boys nodded silently, and even Suga was quietly thinking.

“See, Daichi? There was no reason to bully me about this.” Sawamura ruffled Azumane’s hair playfully before going to put his empty tray away.

Suga quickly changed the subject. “Well, on another note, we should probably get everything ready for the kids today.” He stretches, and then turns to address you. “We still have a few more loose ends to tie up, right?”

You nod, and Sawamura and Azumane also start discussing what they need to do. They bid you good luck for the rest of the day before heading off to get started, and you and Suga do the same. 

“So, we have our group, we have our schedule, what else do we need to do?” You question your co-counselor as you walk out of the cafeteria.

He taps his chin in thought. “I was thinking we could grab the last of our supplies, and then maybe do a little practice in preparation for the kids?”

You cock your head. “Practice?”

“You know, like go through our activities as if we’re campers so we can teach it to each other.” You might have imagined it, but you thought you heard a little bit of shake in his voice, almost as if he was nervous saying that. But his face didn’t indicate any nerves, so you must have dreamt it up.

“Sure, that sounds good.” You two stand up and head out, stopping the director to ask a quick question, but then you were on your way. The time seemed to speed up as you wandered around, gathering supplies, and setting up. The speed of today compared to yesterday was immeasurable, it was like comparing the time of a month to the time of an hour. Yet, the day seemed to slow down whenever you locked eyes with your co-counselor. He smiled, and seconds seemed to turn into hours. You hated it, because you knew you were setting yourself up to be heartbroken. If you confessed to him or he figured it out, you would either get rejected, fired, or he would choose someone else over you. So what were you going to do? Push it down deep inside until you feel nothing and continue on with your job!

Easier said than done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, highkey ive been having major writers block, im so sorry, but i got through this one and i promise the next chapter will be better:)


	6. Chapter 6

“Alright, so pretend I’m your camper,” Suga cleared his throat. It was about two hours before the kids were supposed to show up, and you two were trying to get last minute practice in to soothe the nerves of the first week. “Cinnamon! I don’t  _ want  _ to play volleyball! It’s hot and my feet hurt and I’m tired!” You giggle as your co-counselor whines like a small child, even squatting down and sighing loudly to get into character. 

You move over to him and give him a small pat on the head. “Hey buddy, why don’t you take a little water break, and then we can play together? I’ll help you out so it’s not as hard, and it’ll be really fun, right?” In the spirit of role-playing, he gives you a wide beaming smile before nodding and clapping his hands.

“Not bad,” he says, standing up. “I mean, if I were a camper, I would want to play volleyball with you. Alright, your turn.”

You think for a moment. You guys were standing at one of the many courts, with a ball in the sand and not many people around to hear you whine. Using that to your advantage, you pick up a ball and pretend to struggle while serving. Then, getting really into character, you stamp your foot and walk over to Suga with your arms crossed. “ _ Sugar! _ I can’t serve, but all the other kids can! I wanna go home right now! Call my parents!” You stick out your lip, but can’t help but crack a smile at how ridiculous you feel.

Suga smiles as well, and picks up the ball, walking over to you. “Here, I’ll show you, okay?” He serves slowly, showing you proper hand position, making sure you watch every step. “Got it? Why don’t you try?” You are determined to stay in character, and purposefully hit it the incorrect way, which would force him to correct you specifically. These kinds of exercises were silly from an outsider perspective, but honestly, it really helped get through a bunch of situations and make you feel more prepared.

“It’s still not working!” You fake cry and Suga walks over to you rubbing your shoulder. He holds out the ball for you to take, and then stands behind you.

“Alright, let me show you this way.” He cups his hands under yours, gently curling your fingers into the proper position. “Hold your hand like this, alright?” At this sudden touch, you feel your heartbeat increasing, but try to hold it together. You nod, and he takes your arm gently, face so close you can feel his breath on your ear. “And swing your arm like this, so you hit the ball with enough force to get it over.”

He lets go, and you take a few breaths to calm yourself before swinging a perfect serve. You give each other big smiles, but you can still feel your hands tingling from where he held them. But you just shrugged it off and kept going with the practices.

“Okay, let me think of another one...” Suga looks down in thought, before raising a finger in exclamation. “Got it!” He ran over to the pole that held up the net, and pretended to hit his head against it before toppling into the sand. “Concussion protocol!” He calls to you before holding his head in his hands. 

You quickly run over and kneel down by his head. “Camper, what happened? Did you hit your head?”

He sits up, forcing a shake. “Yeah, against the metal pole. Ow...it hurts.” He squeezes his eyes shut and leans over, before cracking an eye open and sneakily looking at you.

“Alright,” You say, running through the checklist in your mind. “Do you have any  dizziness?” 

“No.”

“Nausea?”

“No, it just hurts.”

“Anything else feels weird?”

He shakes his head and lays back down in the sand. “I’m a little shaken, but nothing else.”

You stand up, offering him your hand. “Alright bud, let’s go to the nurse and give you some ice, and we’ll fill out the concussion form. Then you can rest until you’re better, okay?”

Suga takes your hand and pulls himself up, looking you in the eyes and giving a soft smile. Time seems to freeze, because for reasons unbeknownst to you, he doesn’t let go of your hand. All sound around you disappears, and the only thing in your vision is his eyes, softly smiling at you and glittering in the afternoon sun. Not only do background noise and visuals vanish from your perspective, but also any and all rational thought. Any voice that told you to push down your feelings was drowned out by the beating of your heart and the blood rushing in your ears. 

After what seemed like an eternity, he let go of your hand with a small “ah, sorry,” and took a step back, steadying himself. “Nice job co-counselor! Do you wanna do one more and then we can do some one-on-ones for fun?”

“Yeah, s-sure.” You tried not to stutter, but you couldn’t help it. Everything he did just made you fall harder, and you couldn’t stop yourself. You could hardly clear your mind enough to think of another scenario, but trying to mimic his concussion protocol, you picked another one you may be dealing with: heatstroke.

You go sit in the shade and breathe heavily, trying to imitate the symptoms. “Sugar,” you call over to him, and he jogs over. “I don’t feel good. It’s really hot and I’m tired.”

He cocks his head, looking at you and trying to figure out what you’re conveying. You whisper “ _ heatstroke” _ and he nods.

“Okay, can you tell me some symptoms? Do you have a headache, nausea, or are you confused at all?” He puts a hand to your head, checking for fever and raised body temperature.

Sighing, you swallow. “Y-yeah, all of those. I’ve been playing pretty hard and I forgot to drink a lot of water.” 

He puts one hand on your back and takes your hand in his other, pulling you up and steadying you. “Okay, we’re going to first aid and we’re going to cool you off. You might have heatstroke, so let’s get you out of the sun and call a doctor. Can you walk?”

You nod, and he lets go of you. “Nice job!” You praise him, smiling widely. “I think that’s a good range of situations to practice. And it looks like we have....” Checking your watch, you see it’s only an hour and a half until the campers show up. “Enough time to do a few rounds and then head over to the meeting area.”

Suga gives you a thumbs up and goes to get the ball. “I’m a little rusty, so forgive me for any bad passes.” 

Chuckling, you head to the other side of the net. “Same here. Let’s just do some easy bumps and receives to get back into it.”

He nods and sets up the ball, hitting it to your side as you read his body movement and shuffle to the impact area. You receive and bump it up, doing the same thing to him, causing the both of you to run back and forth. After you finish that, you did a few other exercises, and although he was clearly better than you, he didn't rub it in your face like some  _ other _ people probably would have. 

But before you knew it, as you and Suga were taking a water break, sitting in the shade, you saw two familiar faces approach you two, waving. 

“Hey Azumane, Sawamura!” You call, and the two tall boys chuckle and smile.

“Hi there, you two. How’s it going?” Sawamura sits next to you and stretches in the shade. “Oh, and you can call me Daichi, if you want. Suga does the same, and I don’t really mind formality. And I’m sure Azumane here wouldn’t care if you called him Asahi, as well.”

Azumane, or rather Asahi, nods, and you smile, feeling a surge of happiness within you. You felt like you were welcomed into the group by using first names, in a way. Though since they called Suga by his shortened last name, you preferred to keep it that way. “Alright, Daichi and Asahi. We got a lot done, so it’s going pretty good.”

“Yeah,” Suga jumps in. “We’ve been pretty productive in the hours before the kids are officially here.”

“Good to see, good to see.” Daichi chuckles. “I’d like to say the same for us, but we mostly spent the whole afternoon playing volleyball instead of setting up supplies and such.”

Asahi looked a bit bashful. “I mean, it is a volleyball camp, so that isn’t so bad, is it?” Daichi patted his shoulder.

“Of course, we just probably did more than play, but camp hasn’t officially started so there shouldn’t be any problems.” Asahi sighed while Daichi gave him a big smile before turning to Suga. “Oh, and guess what? We ran into those girls from earlier, and got their numbers.”

Your ears perked a bit at that remark. “Their numbers? How did you manage that?” 

“Well, they asked if we would want to combine to do group games sometime, so they gave us their numbers so we could message them and plan out when it would be,” Daichi explained. “Diamond said to give you hers, Suga.”

“She said  _ specifically _ to give it to you,” Asahi mumbled. “And repeated it. Over and over.”

While your heart was soaring from nerves and a twinge of jealousy, Suga looked confused. “Why was she so intent on giving it to me of all people?”

Asahi puffed up his cheeks, childishly. “I don’t know, you tell me Mr. Don’t-Date-Your-Coworkers.” 

Suga looked surprised. “Whoa, who said I was dating her?”

_ Yeah, who said he was dating her? _ You think, trying not to let your thoughts burst out of your mouth for the three counselors to hear.

“All we’re saying is she seems really interested in talking to you.” Daichi chimed back in. “So don’t go breaking your own rules and start getting all flirty with another group.”

Suga huffed. “Guys, that’s ridiculous. We met them yesterday. It’s not like I even know her that well, and I’m not going to spend a lot of time with her anyways. Don’t worry, I’m not interested at all.”

“Alright, whatever you say.” Daichi held up his hands and let it go. “Let me give you her number at her request, at least. Maybe we can do three on three.”

“Hey, I’m here too, you know.” You couldn’t hold it in any longer. You piped up and Daichi and Asahi glanced over in your direction, almost as if they were reminded of your existence.

“Yeah,” Suga said, fighting for you. “We could at least do four-on-four with Diamond’s co-counselor. Let’s not form any cliques here.” He turned to you and gave you a small smile, with which you shot one back.

But it wasn’t much use. With every conversation you have, you become more confused. As far as you could tell, you were head-over-heels for your co-counselor, who had no interest in dating any coworkers, much less you. You weren’t really in the “group”, per say, and felt a little outcast. This all seemed typical, and you were getting a little too into your own head in perceiving the situations.

“Anyways,” Suga said, breaking you out of your thoughts once again. “Why don’t we play a quick game before heading over and meeting the kids? Cinnamon and I could use a cooldown round.”

The four of you stand up, agreeing, and decide on teams. To switch it up, you get Daichi as a partner, playing against Suga and Asahi. Suga gives you a devious smile, with eyes that tell you he won’t go easy on you, and even Asahi looks like he’s getting into the groove. They were definitely better than you, and Daichi carried your team a little bit, but Suga’s setting with Asahi’s spikes definitely threw you off guard. You could receive only a few, getting a little embarrassed at your improficiency, but Daichi kept telling you to shake it off.

But then, you receive one of Asahi’s slower spikes, and Daichi gets ready to set it up for you. You had never been the best spiker, but with all the power your legs can give you, you jump, waiting for the ball to reach your hand, as you see Suga’s figure rush to block you. He jumps as well, but just a second too late, as you aim right between his arms and slam the ball as hard as you can. The ball shoots through the gap in his arms and smacks into the sand below, and you breathe heavily with a smile. Suga, catching his breath and a bit shocked at missing the hit, grins at you. “Nice hit. But I won’t let that happen again.” He winks, and you feel a rush of adrenaline, ready to receive any more hits on your side.

However, your fun was cut short by a light, high-pitched, “Hey~!” You turn around and see Diamond, Willow, and Sunshine walking towards your court, waving. Diamond had sunglasses on her head and was flashing a pearly-white grin. The boys called their greetings to the girls, but you simply wave, coming down from the high of excitement. 

“What are you guys doing?” Diamond walks over to the side of the court, tucking a long strand of hair behind her ear. Sunshine and Asahi wave timidly at each other with small smiles, and Daichi locks eyes with Willow. 

“Just getting a few practice rounds in before the kids show up.” Daichi bounced the ball absentmindedly against his head. “Would you girls care to join?”

Willow put a hand on her hip. “In any other situation I would have accepted, but it’s about 20 minutes to 4, so we should probably head over.”

You check your watch. “Oh man, it is. We should head out, guys.” Daichi sets the ball down as the girls turn to walk away. The three boys head over to catch up with the girls, but you need to tie your shoe. You call out to have them wait up for you, but as you look up, Diamond is pulling Suga away and the rest of the group is starting to walk. You feel a pang in your chest, but let them go.

_ Maybe it would be better if I weren’t with them. _

You finish tying and stand up, contemplating whether or not to jog up to them. However, as you look up, your eyes meet with a pair of soft, hazel-brown eyes. As the group is walking, Suga turns and waits for you.

“You coming?” He says with a gentle smile, and you nod, jogging lightly to catch up. Walking with the group, you hear Diamond trying to make conversation with Suga, but all you can focus on is how your stride syncs up with your coworker. Despite your difference in height, your legs moved at the exact same time, almost as if you were connected. 

Suga realizes that you’re looking down at the ground, and elbows you gently in the side. “You look like you have something on your mind. Are you alright?” 

You glance up, realizing your outward appearance. You desperately try to cover it up by changing the reason. “Oh, yeah, I’m just preparing myself for the kids. I guess I’m a little nervous about how they may take to me, and if I’m going to do a good job.”

He chuckles. “Come on, you sound like Asahi, all nervous.” The tall man hears his name and whirls his head around, glaring, which makes you and Suga giggle. “Turn those nerves into excitement! I’m sure the kids will love you, and this’ll be the best summer  _ ever _ .” 

A smile breaks from between your lips. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Sugar.” He grins and ruffles your hair, causing you to feel a bit of heat on your cheeks.

_ I’m sure it will be the best summer, not just for the kids. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man it really took me 6 chapters for the kids to even show up, huh? i hope yall dont mind, i tend to flesh out my stories into long ones so you may love it or hate it, just buckle in cause im excited to put a lot more into this lmao  
> thank you for reading <3


	7. Chapter 7

You and Suga split off from the rest of the group to try and find your table, eagerly awaiting the kids’ arrival. Sitting down at the table with your number and a list of kids, you can’t help but bounce your leg in anticipation. Suga, taking notice, places a gentle hand on your knee, slowing your bouncing. You stop, but you can’t tell if it was his comfort or your freeze response, or both. But whatever the reason, he gives you a gentle smile and you try to return it through your flushing face.

The chatter among the counselors filled up the space around the main tables, where all of the students and counselors would meet at the start of the day to do some songs to start the day and go over the schedule. It was a big area covered by an overhang with many wooden tables and benches under it, enough to fill the whole camp. At the space you and Suga filled, there was a number stand that had a large number that signified your group, along with the list of names.

Chatting with Suga helped you pass the time, talking about favorite TV shows or movies, just basic things like that. But you didn’t mind that they were simple, because every lilt of his voice or the way his eyes lit up everytime he talked about something that excited him just made you incredibly happy. You try to relish the time alone with him before your group takes up all your time.

And before you know it, a large bus gave a honk from the front gate, which caused every counselor to stand up excitedly and await the sea of kids coming down the main path. Soon enough, kids of all elementary school age start running with barrels of energy, charging straight towards the tables with bright smiles. Each had a piece of paper that presumably had information they needed to know, including which group they were in. Some kids group up, running towards a table after seeing their number with wide smiles.

Your head whips around at the kids running past you, trying to see which ones will come to your table. While your head is turned around, you feel a small tap on your shoulder, and you swivel back around to see what the source was.

A small girl stands before you, clutching a piece of paper tightly and looking down at the ground. “Um, am I in the right place?” She nervously thrusts the paper towards you and you take it gingerly, looking to see that her name and number matched up with your roster.

“Yep, you sure are!” You give her a warm smile and nod, giving the paper back to her and patting the seat next to you. “My name is Cinnamon, I’ll be your counselor. Do you want to sit with me while we wait for the other campers?”

She nods, but doesn’t make eye contact with you, sitting next to you with an air of anxiety around her. “By the way, this is your other counselor, Sugar,” You say, and her attention is drawn to Suga sitting next to you. He brims a friendly grin and waves at her, giving her a gentle greeting.

“It’s nice to meet you! What’s your name?” Even though Suga spoke gently, she was still hesitant to speak, and the first time she did, not even you could hear it.

“...mi.” She mumbled.

“Sorry, one more time?” You say, leaning a little closer.

“...My name’s Emi. Nice to meet you too.” 

You try and use the softest voice that you could while still being heard, and give an honest compliment. “That’s a really pretty name!”

You can see the smallest bit of a smile curling at her lips, but she utters a tiny word of thanks and then goes to rummage around in her backpack to keep herself busy.

But as you’re looking for more kids while the background noise gets louder and louder,

you feel another tap on your shoulder. This time it’s Suga, drawing your eye to a mess of fluffy, bouncy brown hair that’s standing in front of your co-counselor, little hands on his backpack. 

“Now, do you want to introduce yourself to your other counselor?” Suga says, motioning towards you. A young boy smiles brightly at you, missing a front tooth and looking like he can hardly stand still.

“My name is Kenta! It’s nice to meet you!” He takes a seat next to Suga, bouncing in his seat.

You chuckle. “It’s nice to meet you, Kenta. My name’s Cinnamon. Are you excited for the summer?” 

He nods dramatically, brown hair flying into his eyes. “Yeah! I love playing volleyball with my big brother, and I’m gonna get even better than him during camp!”

Suga laughs gently. “I bet you will, bud. You have two great counselors, after all!” The grey-haired man puts a hand on your shoulder, giving Kenta a thumbs up. The young boy gives you one back, and you feel a flush of happiness in your heart. 

One by one, more campers came to your table, introducing themselves and taking a seat until your attendance roster filled up. By now, the flow of incoming kids was slowing, and the counselors were trying to start up conversations and monitor their groups at the same time.

But then, you hear a tap on a microphone, and on the stage stands Sato, next to a microphone hooked up to the speaker system.

“Good afternoon campers!” He says, his voice booming through the system. The crowd calls a greeting back to him, and then falls silent. Or, as silent as you can get with a bunch of elementary school students chattering. “Welcome officially to camp! I’m glad you all found your counselors and groups, so let me introduce myself! My name is Sparrow, I’ll be the director of your elementary school section of camp! You may see me walking around and checking in, so feel free to say hi! You may also see some middle school groups around here as well, but they’re on the far side of the property, so we won’t be seeing them super often. Your counselors will explain your specific activities from day to day, but we’ll be splitting up activities between crafts and games, and then volleyball and athleticism. Is everyone excited for a good summer?”

The crowd cheered, and then Sato waved his hands to settle them back down. “Alright, well let’s have a good time! Your counselors will take you to your own space so you can do introductions properly, as well as a few icebreakers. Then we’ll go and have some dinner, and then regroup for all camp! Alright, go disperse!”

The crowd started to scatter as groups headed out, and you stood up next to Suga. “Alright, listen up campers!” Ten heads turned towards you as you raised your voice and held your arm over your head. “Cinnamon and Sugar’s group, let’s all stand up and head towards the craft tables for icebreakers! Make sure to stay together!” You saw Suga count and make sure everyone was accounted for, and then you slowly made your way over to the craft tables.

The sun was low in the sky, even though it wasn’t sunset, but the high trees by the wooden benches and tables made the light glimmer through the leaves onto the faces of your campers. You stood next to Suga, where everyone could see you, and gestured towards him. “Why don’t we all say our names, favorite food, and then an interesting fact to get to know each other? Sugar, would you care to go as an example?”

He chuckled. “You’re gonna put me on the spot first, huh?” You smiled, and he took a breath. “Alright then. My name’s Sugar, I’ll be one of your co-counselors. My favorite food is probably...mapo tofu, extra spicy. And an interesting fact about me...” He tapped his chin in thought. “I was the vice-captain of my high school volleyball team, and we went to nationals!” He looked at you. “Alright, your turn, and then we’ll go around the group.”

You smiled, looking at the eagerly awaiting faces. You introduced yourself as best you could, trying to make your favorite food and interesting fact seem like the coolest thing on earth. But there wasn’t a lot you could come up with on the spot, and you were a little indecisive, but you got through it. Your introduction seemed to ease up the nerves some kids had, who were pondering an interesting fact before the circle got to them. 

Everyone got through it, and eventually, it got back to you and your co-counselor. Suga starts to explain the day-to-day activities, and you take the job of quieting down the chattering campers and directing their ears back to Suga. 

“Does anyone have any questions?” He asks, and a few kids raise their hands. He pointed to the first hand that shot up.

“Will there be games with other groups if we have friends in other groups?” You thought for a moment before answering.

“We might have a chance to play with others, we’ll have to see when they’re open. And you’ll also see them at meals and all camp. Anyone else?”

Kenta in the front, with his bouncy hair, raised his hand before you called on him. “Are you two married?”

You and Suga shoot looks at each other, and you could feel your face turning red in a second. You could have sworn that his face was turning pink as well, but you tried to laugh it off. “Kenta! One, it’s not appropriate to ask personal questions like that. And two, no, we are not married.” You felt your words shake a bit, but held it together.

But the young boy was persistent. “Why not?”

You didn’t really know how to answer that question. It’s not like you had a reason on hand. But luckily Suga jumped in and saved you. 

“We meant questions about camp, or broad things you need answering. Cinnamon and I are your counselors, and there’s no need to pry into our personal lives. What matters is our camp lives with you! So let’s focus on that.” You could tell he was feeling a bit awkward, and who could blame him. That’s how kids are, with no filter.

Pushing past the topic, you went on to icebreakers, playing name games to remember everyone or bonding activities to get to know everyone better. But soon enough, you check your watch and see that it was almost dinnertime, and catch Suga’s attention.

He nods, and gathers everyone’s attention. “Alright guys, it’s almost dinnertime! We’re going to head back and get you all familiar with the camp layout on the way, because we’ll also pass the cabins and amphitheater so you guys can see where they are.” He motioned for everyone to stand up, and they flocked like ducklings behind the male counselor, which made you chuckle. You take the back to make sure no one in the group drifts away, and you see Emi lingering back towards you, and try to strike up a conversation.

“Emi, are you excited for this summer?” You say, and she moves her eyes to meet yours. Her voice is quiet, but you can just barely hear it over the other campers’ voices. 

“I’m a little nervous. It’s my first time at a sleepaway camp.” She wrings her hands out of nerves, and you give her a small pat on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, okay? Everyone here is really nice, you’re gonna learn a lot, and we’ll have a lot of fun! And if there’s anything I can do to make your time here better, you let me know, okay?”

She cracks a small smile and then nods. She takes your hand in her tiny one, and you walk together, seeing as Suga looks over his shoulder at the two of you. He smiles, and you flash one back before he continues leading everyone. 

After leading the group to their spot in the cafeteria and settling them down, you and Suga walk to the counselor’s line to wait for food, and he strikes up a conversation. “That girl you were with, Emi, she’s already latched on to you, huh?”

You nod. “Yeah, she’s a little nervous, since it’s her first time, but she seems like a sweet kid. I don’t want to give favoritism or anything, but I wanna make sure she has a good time, y’know?”

“I get it. If she needs a little extra attention, who are we to say no?” He looked away, scratching the back of his neck. “Plus, it’s super cute how the two of you have already bonded.”

You feel your face flush, uttering a “thanks” before standing in silence. Did he just call you cute…? Even inadvertently? Your thoughts vanished, and your brain felt like jelly. 

Although the rest of the night was full of introductions, songs, and chatter between the counselors and the groups, even at all-camp, you couldn’t quite remember anything. It was almost as if it whizzed by when you were working, in stark comparison to how the first day felt. But time seemed to slow whenever you were near Suga, with his eyes that always seemed to have a glimmer of mischief among the softness. You couldn’t stop thinking about the things he’d said over the time you’ve known him. 

As the night wrapped up and you and Suga walked the kids towards their cabins before lights out, you noticed it was unusually quiet around you two. Your group was the last out from the amphitheater, and with everyone gone before you, there was no one around. You felt your heart start to beat faster with the sheer idea of being alone with him since the kids arrived.

“Hey, y/n?”

Your pulse skipped. “Yeah, what’s up?”

You couldn’t see him too well in the dark, but you thought he shifted a little closer to you while walking, to the point where your shoulders were almost touching. “I’m really glad we’re co-counselors. Like, Asahi or Daichi would have been fun, but I’ve known them for years. And I’m excited to work with you, and get to know you, even if it is for just a summer.”

You can’t help but smile, feeling your face get warm. “I’m glad too. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive going into it, but I’m excited to see how it’ll all turn out.” You turn your head to look at him best you could in the dark, and see a small smile on his face. Realizing you two are at the splitting path for the cabins, you hold out your hand. “Here’s to a good summer.”

He takes your hand, giving it a gentle shake, and holding on for a bit. “Here’s to a good summer.” You feel a small squeeze, and then he lets go. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep well, okay?” 

“You too, see you in the morning!” You wave as he walks away, and then realize you have a giant smile on your face. No matter how you try to pull it off, it stays where it is. Even walking to your cabin, you feel like you’re floating, and all because of the tiniest actions of one man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry it took so long! school started up for me and it's been hard with my classes to find time to keep writing. updates might be a little slower, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!


	8. Chapter 8

The time started to zip by, as your days were consumed by schedules, games, crafts, and sports. It was starting to get hectic as the kids got more comfortable, and would try to push their limits to get away with more and more. But surprisingly, Suga could be pretty stern with the kids, and they learned pretty quickly that if they made their counselor mad, they would be in for quite the lecture. Once the first week neared its end, it was Friday afternoon, and you and Suga had the kids out for volleyball practice, but they were all antsy for the night.

“Cinnamon, what time is it?” Kenta called to you before a volleyball came flying at him. It bounced off his head, but the boy didn’t seem to mind. You check your watch. 

“It’s 4:20. We’re going to play for half an hour more, and then head back for dinner.” Suga chuckles and made a face at you when you said 4:20. You rolled your eyes and stuck your tongue out at him. Even around kids, he has his moments where he’s less mature than them. It was charming, in a weird way.

Kenta bounces up and down impatiently. “I want the time to go by faster!! It’s bonfire night tonight!” 

You chuckle. Every Friday the camp hosted a bonfire, where every group got together for roasting marshmallows, telling scary stories, and singing songs around it. You even heard that Sato was going to bring out his guitar to take song requests, and you were dying to see how that was going to go. But it had to get somewhat dark before then, so you and Suga tried to fill the space before the sun went down. The kids were practicing their bumps to each other, and you and your co-counselor were watching and helping with their technique.

“How about this,” Suga suddenly says. “Why don’t we have a practice game? We can split the group into my group and Cinnamon’s group, and we can play a game to make the time go by faster.” 

Most of the kids nod and agree, but one young girl with a bouncy ponytail piped up. “What if we do all of us kids against you counselors?” You and Suga look at each other, and then a slow grin spreads across both of your faces. 

“Alright, you’re on.” The kids cheer happily, and all make their way to one side of the net. They started huddling, making a plan, and you motioned to do the same. But the only problem was there were only two of you, not enough to do a full huddle. So Suga, in the flash of the moment, puts his arm around your shoulder and leaned down in a makeshift huddle. You were a bit startled at the sudden contact, but then put an arm around him back. He was close to your face, whispering so no kids could hear him, and you could feel your heartbeat quickening.

“Okay, we’re gonna destroy them, yeah?” He had a devilish smile, like he was dead-set on beating these children into a pulp. Maybe the week’s stresses were finally getting to him. 

You give him a chastising smack on the arm, and he giggles. “We have to give them a little hope, don’t go too hard on them.” He rolled his eyes and gave you a “yeah, yeah” before moving his arm from you and standing up, stretching out a bit. You went over to grab the ball, tossing it over to the kids.

“You guys serve first, okay?” Emi picked up the ball, reluctantly. She tried to pass it off to someone else, but you called to her. “Emi, don’t worry! Just try your best and remember what we worked on the other day.”

Nervously, the small girl holds the ball in her hands. You see her take a deep breath, and then toss the ball up in the air, barely getting it over the net. It catches on the top, and shockingly, you dive for it, trying to catch it. But because it was so close, you can’t reach it, and it hits the sand gently. You see Emi’s face light up in joy, and you toss the ball to her as her teammates congratulate her. 

She hits it again, with more confidence this time, but higher over the net so you can reach it. You gently bounce it to one of the kids, who are putting their bump practice into play. It goes on for a while until you inevitably score the point. Suga gives you a fist bump and takes the serve, setting it up for a heavy serve, to which you internally cringed. But it turns into a fakeout as he gently passes it over the net, freaking out some of the kids and making them dive for it. Luckily, they get it up, and the game continues on.

You start to lose track of the score (and time), and send the kids off for a water break, checking the time. It was already five, and you had to be back for dinner soon, but the kids were enjoying it so much, you hated to drag them away from it. Though, you knew that if you said it was time to go back, you knew they would jump on the opportunity to leave to go eat, so you wanted to push it as much as you could. But one of the kids sees you checking your watch and calls out to you, “Cinnamon, what time is it?”

You huff, turning to Suga, who shrugs. You can read “time to go” in his face, and you turn to the camper. “It’s just about time to head out, so finish your water break and let’s go have dinner.”

The campers cheer and grab their waters, lining up behind Suga instinctively. You take the back again, and they all start walking behind him, bumping into each other trying to get to the front, while you try to maintain order. As they split off to get their dinner, you and Suga grab your own food, finding Daichi and Asahi to sit with as well. 

As you’re chatting-slash-ranting about the week, Sato comes up behind you, and your table turns as he grabs your attention. “Hey, you guys! How’s it going?”

You swallow your mouthful of food and Suga replies cheerfully. “Pretty good, what’s up?”

“So,” Sato continues. “Cinnamon and Sugar, you know the bonfire tonight? Well we need someone to stay behind and make sure the embers die out, for safety reasons. Would you be able to? We can have Grizzly and Moose take your group back for you.” 

You and Suga both nodded. “Sure,” you say. “No problem.”

The director clapped his hands together. “Wonderful. Well, we’re looking to get started at 7, so you can meet us anytime after that.” And with that, he bid goodbye and went off to check in with other counselors.

You excused yourself to grab some water, and while you were walking back, you saw Daichi ruffling Suga’s hair and Suga slapping it away. You chuckle and sit down as Daichi goes back to eating, and ask “what’s going on here?”

Suga waves it away. “It’s nothing,” he says. 

“Call it an inside joke.” Daichi snickers, and Suga flings a spoonful of food at the counselor. Asahi starts fretting, trying to stop an oncoming food fight, but luckily the boys just chuckle and continue chatting. Once the hour passes and you can hear the kids getting anxious, Daichi and Asahi stand up to take their group, but Suga stops them.

“Hey, we still have an hour to kill before we’re supposed to head over, do you two want to group up and do a group game?” The two boys shrug and agree, and you stand up to clear your trash as Suga starts to head over to the group. Your two groups head over together, the children chatting between them, eager to hang out with each other while their counselors chat as well. 

You start up with a group game, one where you and Suga played on the kids’ side while Daichi and Asahi played as the bad guys, chasing the kids who were frantically shrieking. Asahi would stop whenever a camper would trip or get scared, trying to reassure them that everything was okay. You have a camper holding each hand, running away as fast as their little legs can carry them. After a while, the campers laid on the grass, panting, as you and the other counselors tried to catch your breath.

“Well,” you say, out of energy. “That certainly got them all tired out. They should be all ready for the bonfire.”

Right on cue, you see Willow and Sunshine’s group walking towards the firepit. Sunshine calls to you four, with probably the loudest voice you had ever heard her use. “Hey guys, the bonfire’s getting up and running. Do you want to head over?”

Asahi jumps up immediately, causing the other three of you to chuckle, making him blush a bit. The campers merge with yet another group, and you were starting to have a tough time finding your kids among the sea of campers that was amassing. But you take the front with Sunshine and Willow, while the boys hold up the back. It was admittedly a little awkward, so you try to start a conversation.

“So, how has your group been this week?” You slow your pace, realizing that you’re walking a little too fast, maybe out of habit. 

Willow adjusts her glasses. “It’s been good. We have quite a few troublemakers in our group, but they learned fast to listen and not push their luck.”

You chuckle. “Yeah, that’s how it’s been with ours, as well. What are you doing for the bonfire?”

Sunshine looks down at her walking feet. “I mean, I brought my own vegan marshmallows to roast, so I hope the kids don’t try to steal them. I also might try and sing, if I can work up the courage to.”

“You can sing?” You try not to sound rude or gawk at the shy-looking counselor. “That’s awesome! I wish I could, but every time I hear myself I cringe.” You let out a small laugh, which makes her smile.

“Yeah,” She says. “I’m not very good, but I certainly get a lot of practice singing to my houseplants. They seem to appreciate it.” You smile. You can tell why Asahi likes this girl. Through the dark eye makeup she has quite the gentle soul. Honestly, it’s a bit confusing why she hangs out with Diamond, who seems like her polar opposite.

“Do you mind if I ask something?” Inquiring, she nods. “How did you two become friends with Diamond? She comes off as a personality that would clash with you two. I hope that isn’t rude or anything.” You wave your hands after realizing what you say, but it just makes the two laugh.

“Oh don’t worry,” Sunshine says. “You aren’t offending us at all. We’ve all been friends since middle school, but we didn’t talk too much in high school. Then, when she saw Willow and I at orientation, she jumped back into our friend group like it was nothing. Probably because she didn’t want to seem like she didn’t know anyone else.” She laughs. “Believe me, I know how her personality is. But it’s not like I can be mean to her, we have known each other for years. So I’m just kind of accepting whenever she sticks by us, at least until she finds someone else to latch on to.”

You’re a little surprised. Admittedly, you would have thought it was Sunshine who would be the one trying to get into the friend group, but that’s just buying into the whole “popular girl” stereotype. You’re intrigued at their dynamic, but still can’t quite come to terms with Diamond. She still gets under your skin for reasons you can’t quite understand.

Finally, you reach the firepit just as the sun is falling below the trees, casting heavy shadows on all the kids and staff alike. The campers gleefully find a seat on the many logs surrounding the fire, which was starting to burn brightly. Sato brought out his guitar and started playing, with the entire camp joining in happily. 

But as much as you wanted to focus on the songs and the scary stories and the marshmallows, you found yourself getting torn back to getting lost in Suga’s face, lit by the roar of the fire in front of you. He was sitting next to you, but it was pretty packed, and he was one shift away from coming in contact, though you tried to stay separated. The past week hadn’t been easy in overcoming your crush, in fact, it only made it worse. Every moment alone with him, every touch, every smile he shot your way just made you fall harder and harder. So, even though the night whizzed by, you knew it would go slower whenever you focused your attention on him. 

As the children started yawning and leaning on each other while the moon crawled higher in the sky, counselors started to take their groups back, one  by one. The last one was your and Suga’s group, who bunched together with Daichi and Asahi, who gave the two of you a friendly wave goodnight. With one last word from Sato about putting the fire out, you two were alone. 

In the quiet dead of night.

With only the light of the fire and the crackling of the embers to disturb the absolute silence that hung between you. 

You and Suga sat near each other earlier, but even though there were rows and rows of logs to sit on, neither of you moved. You felt hot, even though the fire was dying, and you nearly jumped out of your skin when Suga cleared his throat.

“Hey, do you want to hear a scary story?”

You swallow. “I mean, sure. The ones we told the kids weren’t really that scary. They were more along the lines of “brush your teeth or so-and-so will take your video games away.””

He chuckles. “Yeah. Well I got one that is definitely  _ not  _ kid appropriate.” Suga’s face twists into a devilish smile, and your heart starts to pound faster.

“Alright. Lay it on me.” He turns to look at the fire, the glow illuminating his face. You turn and look into the embers as well.

“This is called  _ The Smiling Man _ .” He begins, his voice falling to a quiet hush. “There was a man, waiting on the side of the road for his friend to pick him up. His car had broken down, and he was waiting impatiently for his friend, since it was late at night and he had to get home. As he was waiting, he saw a figure stumbling towards him. He crossed the street to walk around, thinking it was a drunk man and he would pass after a while. But the figure stopped at his car, staring straight at the stars. A car passed by, and the headlights illuminated the face of the figure. It was a face as white as a sheet, caught in a wide, twisted smile.”

You felt your heart quicken, not daring to move your eyes away from the fire. “The man became nervous, calling his friend over and over and asking where he was. But then he saw the figure start to stumble towards him, crossing the road to get to him. Even in the darkness, the man could see the glint of the figure’s teeth, still wide open and reflecting even the tiniest fragment of light. He started running, seeing his friend finally pull up to pick him up, and he jumped in the car, gasping for breath and screaming “drive, drive!” to his friend. Freaked out, the driver stepped on the gas, but the headlights caught a shadow on the road - a second two late. The car slammed into something with a loud  _ thump _ , and the driver stopped the car - despite his friend’s pleas to move. The driver stepped out to see what he hit, and the man, now frantic, jumped into the driver’s seat and sped away. The last thing he ever saw of his friend was him looking at his car driving away...with a grin spread across his face.”

You can feel yourself starting to shake with nerves, drawing your legs close to yourself. “I-Is that a true story?” 

You hear a chuckle, and turn to look at Suga. “I don’t know...” He whips his head towards you with a gigantic smile across his face. “Why don’t you tell me?!”

At that moment, you feel something grab your shoulder, and you scream, jumping off the bench. As you catch your breath, you see Suga trying to hold in his laughter, and you feel your face get red. You smack him on the arm, and through his laughs he tries to apologize over and over again. You sit back down, crossing your arms.

“Very funny.” You pout. “I have to admit, you got me pretty good there.”

He lets out a few more giggles. “Yeah, but to be fair, you kind of fell for the oldest trick in the book.” Without moving, he reaches his arm around and taps your opposite shoulder. You roll your eyes giving a bit of a chill, and start to scoot closer to the dying fire. But then he places his hand on your shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Are you cold?”

You shrug. “Just a little, I’m fine.” Honestly, you weren’t cold. His arm hadn’t moved from holding you, and you felt boiling hot from embarrassment as well as the contact. You both froze for a second, but then you felt him pull you closer.

“Come here. Let me warm you up.”

He pulls you close to him, his hand sliding down to your arm, bare from wearing a t-shirt and forgetting to bring a jacket. Your heart is getting faster and faster as you scoot closer to him, laying your head gently on his shoulder as you let out a shiver. You felt almost as if you were floating, and you couldn’t quite tell whether you were hot or cold. One thing was sure though - you were frozen, cuddling with Suga by the fire.

Wait, what?

You were  _ cuddling _ with him?

Sure enough, you feel his hand gently rubbing up and down your arm. Sure enough, you felt his shoulder pressing into your cheek. And sure enough, before you realized what was happening, he rests his head gently on top of yours, sighing gently. You were shaking, definitely, but simultaneously, you felt unmoving, void of all emotions except comfort...and warmth...and maybe even a little…

...love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! ooh! its happening!!! im really kicking it in to full gear here, so get ready yall! i hope you like it:)


	9. Chapter 9

You felt like you couldn’t move a muscle. Suga was just....holding you. Not saying anything, not doing anything, just...sitting next to you, with his arm around you.

You don’t know how long it was, it felt like you blinked and the fire was almost completely out. With only the feeling of Suga’s steady breathing, and then his voice quietly snaps you out of it.

“Are you...still cold?” 

Of course you weren’t. You were burning up. But saying anything would probably snap you out of this trance that felt like it was going forever.

“N-not really. But are you alright?”

You feel him chuckle. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” It was a moment more of silence, and then he spoke again in a shaky voice. “Is this okay…?”

This time it was you who let out a little giggle. “Yeah, this is okay.” Your heart was still pounding, and a smile couldn’t leave your face.

“It’s just...” He starts to say, then hesitates. “I know we haven’t known each other for very long, and I don’t want to pull anything weird, y’know?” 

You saw his hand that wasn’t around you resting on his leg. A thought pops into your head, but were you daring enough to pull it off? You were already here. “I know. And don’t worry, I don’t think you could pull anything weird.” 

As your body starts to move on its own, you pull out your hand that was resting on your seat and move to take his. Almost instinctively, he opens his hand resting on his leg, and gently lets you take it. Your fingers close around each other’s, and another flood of warmth shoots through you. You close your eyes, burying your face into his shoulder. “I’d say we’re on the same page.”

Suga gives your hand a small squeeze. “Yeah, I would too.” He sighs, and even though you couldn’t see him, you got the impression that his eyes were closed as well, gently making small circles with his thumb. 

A twig snaps in the distance, and both of you are snapped out of your trance, him taking his arm off from around you and snapping his head up to look at the source. You do the same, your back stiffening, but rather than letting go of his hand, you squeeze it unintentionally. Coming out of the trees, you see a small rabbit, probably the source of the sound, and you both let out a sigh. Your eyes are drawn back to him, and he turns to meet yours, and you instantly melt in the shadows of his face. You smile, and he breathes out, grinning with a twinkle in his eye, and your heart soars again. He bites his lip, like he is about to say something, but hesitates. 

“I...” He sighs again, looking to the side of you for a moment before meeting your eye contact again. “Listen, I know this isn’t the best situation. We’re coworkers, we’ve only known each other for a little bit, and we don’t know what awaits us past this summer.” He pauses, his pupils searching deep into yours, and his beauty mark at the corner of his eye crinkling as he smiles. “But as cheesy as it is, I feel drawn to you. Obviously spending almost every hour of the day together has its perks, and the perk here is that I get to know you pretty quickly. But...I want to know you more, in a different way.”

You smile, and he takes a deep breath before continuing. “I want to know what makes you happy. I want to know how to cheer you up when you have a bad day. I just...want to learn all about you. Is that weird?”

Chuckling, you shake your head. “No, it’s not weird at all. I feel the same, don’t worry.”

He closes his eyes, chuckling a bit. “I guess what I’m trying to say is...I don’t know what to call this feeling, exactly. But I like being around you. A lot. And...I like  _ you. _ ” Your heart instantly overflowed with emotion, almost as if your chest was tightening, about to burst.

“I like you too, Suga.” You smile. “And it’s okay that we don’t know what it is, specifically. We don’t have to put a name to it yet. I just want to enjoy being with you, however that ends up working out.”

His eyes light up, even in the dark, at your words. Without another word, he turns towards you, putting two arms around you in a gentle embrace. You accept it wholeheartedly, putting your arms under his and resting your head on his shoulder. Suga squeezes you, not too tightly, but tight enough to make you feel secure and happy. 

So happy.

You two both know you can’t stay like that forever, and the darkness is growing dimmer and dimmer now that the coals are finally starting to burn out. He lets you go, and with one final smile, stands up to stretch. You twist your back, cracking it after sitting for so long, and then grab some water to pour over the last embers. Suga grabs his flashlight, pointing it at the ground, and then takes your hand to walk towards the cabins.

Both of you walk in silence, but it’s a comfortable silence. You can’t wipe the smile off your face, and you didn’t need to see Suga’s face to know that he had the same. He walks you to your cabin, quietly so not to wake any campers off. 

“Sleep well, okay?” He says, squeezing your hand. 

“Okay, you too.” You squeeze back, and with one last smile, he lets you go to head back to his own cabin. You practically float inside, brushing your teeth and washing your face half-heartedly. Your heart is too full, and your brain is too fuzzy to comprehend any other thoughts at that moment. 

You lie on your bed, checking the time. It was late, but you didn’t feel too tired. You knew you had a bit of time to sleep in, as weekend activities were a lot more relaxed than the week. Your eyelids fluttered closed, and before you knew it, you were awoken by the morning light streaming in through your window. 

For a brief moment, your heart was steady, and you rubbed your eyes gently. But then, his image flashed into your mind, and your heartbeat immediately quickened. Was that a dream? No, it felt too real. But you didn’t have any evidence, did you?

You sit up, looking at your hand, your fingers relaxing and gently curling, as if you could still feel him holding your hand. A certain warmness, and unintentionally, your fingers curl down and form a soft fist, and a small smile spreads across your face. 

You had to see him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about him, and you would probably end up convincing yourself that it was a dream. 

Getting ready as fast as you could, you heard voices and movement outside your cabin, getting the feeling it was about the time for breakfast. You didn’t look your best, you were more focused on seeing Suga than anything else in the world. Lots of people were outside, campers and counselors alike, but you couldn’t see the grey-haired man in the crowd. That didn’t dim your attitude, and you headed inside, scouring the tables for a glimpse of him, Daichi, or Asahi. The crowd was thick, and you could hardly make out anyone, so you decided to get your food before continuing your search.

With a full plate, you head towards your usual table, seeing quite a few empty spaces among the crowded cafeteria. Still no sign of Suga or your other counselor friends, you try not to overthink it. You put in an earbud and try to listen to music to take your mind off of it, while looking at your phone to pass the time. Thankfully, the camp was a lot more relaxed about phones than you thought, and they even encouraged it sometime to play music or look up activities on the fly, within reason, of course. But a few songs played and the time started to pass, and still no sign of him. You couldn’t stop yourself from looking up every few minutes to look for a scrap of grey hair, but still nothing. It wasn’t until a particular song came on that you started to get nervous.

It was a sappy song, one of the normal ones about falling in love in unexpected places. But something about it just touched your heart differently when listening to it this time. Even though your situation was different, you didn’t normally fall this easily. You really didn’t know what it was about him that spoke to you in a way that no one else did. You were just...drawn to him. You fell into a swirl of thoughts that blurred your vision as you ate, listening to the song and blocking out the noise of the cafeteria. You almost don’t realize when two hands come down over your vision.

Almost.

As your vision grows black, your eyes snap back to focus, and you chuckle. “Guess who?” You hear a voice say, and you take the hands, moving them away so you can turn to meet those hazel eyes that you could stare into for hours. And almost too perfectly, as you gaze into his eyes, the song ends on a note that makes your heart swell, and you remove your earbuds as his lips curl gently into a smile back at you.

“Hey, you.” You say, and Suga sits down next to you, a little closer than usual. “Did you sleep well?”

He chuckles. “I have to be honest, even though I was super tired, I couldn’t stop thinking, so it took me a while to fall asleep.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Is that weird? I hope that’s not weird.”

“No, not weird at all.” As you respond, he relaxes a bit, as if he got that first moment off of his chest. “It almost felt like a dream, if I’m honest. But believe me when I say I’m insanely glad that it wasn’t.”

You two lock eyes, and then crumble into dopey smiles, but then he looks away. “I wanted to ask you...what you wanted to happen next?”

You sigh, thinking for a moment. “Yeah, I guess we did have to deal with that question sooner or later. What are your thoughts on it?”

He taps his chin, trying to process his words. “Well, unfortunately, we do still have our jobs to do. Being all flirty around the kids would probably get us weird looks or stern talking to’s, so we would have to keep it on the down-low. But honestly, I’m alright with that.” Suga cracks another smile, as if it was trying to break out as he held it back. “I still get to spend time with you every day, so who am I to complain?”

Smiling, you nod. “Yeah, and it’s not like we won’t have moments to ourselves, we just have to plan it out a little bit. I’m okay with that.” You place your hand next to you on the bench, out of view of the many counselors.

“It’ll be fine. We can go with the flow and see how things develop.” He places his hand on top of yours, giving it a gentle squeeze as you feel your face flush. “But I am happy that it looks optimistic, so I’m willing to work with you to see how we can move forward.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth, Suga.” His eyes crinkle as his smile continues to expand.

“You can also call me Koushi, if you like. I don’t mind either way, since Suga is a nickname I already go by. Whichever you prefer.” 

You shrug. “I don’t know, I like both. Suga works with sugar, since you’re just so sweet. But I appreciate you feeling comfortable with me using Koushi as well, it suits you. It’s cute.”

This time, you see a small blush form on his face, and you realize how forward and flirtatious that was. Normally you were anything but a flirt, so it made you a bit embarrassed as well. But you felt more comfortable with him, which soothed your beating heart a bit.

Your heartbeat drumming in your ears was interrupted by the presence of Daichi and Asahi, who called out a friendly greeting before plopping down at the seat across from you two. Suga released your hand and scooted away a bit, trying to be subtle as Daichi didn’t seem to notice. The conversation continued on, seemingly normal, but you were always focused on the smile of the grey-haired man who was sitting next to you, and a thought kept crossing your mind.

He liked you.

_ He  _ liked  _ you. _

What did this mean for you? Was your first date going to be at the arts and crafts table? What had you gotten yourself into, thinking you would be able to have a summer employee fling?

But every time a new question popped into your mind, the first realization flashed back. Sugawara liked you, and wanted to spend time with you. And thinking of that satiated every other thought that you could possibly come up with, and his smile whenever he caught your eye made you realize that everything was more than likely going your way. You two were sticking together, and seeing how it all played out, and you were more than happy to go along for the ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my gosh!!! im so sorry this took so long! let me tell you college is really stinky, but I've been having a bit more motivation to write, so here you go! I'm having a lot of fun seeing how this plays out and i have a lot more planned, so let me know what you think!!   
> thank you for sticking with me all yall suga simps:)


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